Tyler Perry Studios Issues COVID Vaccine Mandate for Casts and Crews
Tyler Perry isn’t playing around when it comes to COVID vaccinations. His Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta will enforce an across-the-board vaccine requirement for all cast and crew members, according to our sister site Deadline.
Hollywood unions and major studios’ return-to-work protocols in June of last year didn’t mandate vaccinations, but gave producers “the option to implement mandatory vaccination policies for casts and crews in Zone A” — where the actors perform, and their immediate proximity — “on a production-by-production basis.”
Both Disney and Netflix previously established a policy for their own U.S. productions, requiring vaccinations for everyone working in Zone A. Other studios have been enacting policy on a show-by-show basis.
In contrast, Tyler Perry Studios notified everyone working on its shows and movies that they had to be fully vaccinated and have booster shots (if eligible). According to Deadline, Perry made the call after he attempted to start production on a soon-to-be-officially greenlit second season of his BET+ series All the Queen’s Men.
That shoot, however, was pushed to Jan. 10 when the number of COVID positive tests shot up from zero to 16 during routine pre-production testing; the ongoing and highly contagious Omicron variant surge has further delayed production to Jan. 31.
The requirement at Tyler Perry Studios will be strictly enforced, with the studio independently verifying vaccination cards (because of the number of fakes that have popped up in an around the industry).
Perry has long been an outspoken vaccination proponent. In addition to requiring studio audiences for his The Tyler Perry Show: Sistas After-Show Edition to be screened, tested and then tested again, the prolific producer has encouraged his fans to get vaccinated via social media and through his BET standalone show Covid-19 Vaccine and the Black Community: A Tyler Perry Special.
I’ve never been a fan of Tyler Perry… but much respect and admiration for his stance on vaccinations/mandates and strict adherence to Covid protocols! Might decide to give his shows another try now after this, too.
Ok but how many of those 16 positive cases were already vaccinated?
Does it matter? Cases are cases, let’s just hope nobody gets seriously sick because of the virus
Cases are irrelevant. it is the severity and hospitalizations that needed to be tracked from the first iteration of the virus. Had they just kept track of that we would be better prepared to live WITH the virus. The notion Biden had to eradicate the virus was always folly.
Shutting down any show in the television industry is like burning stacks of cash. He has to balance keeping people safe while at the same time not having his shows go over budget. If that means people have to be vaccinated to work for him then thats his decision.
I’ve got a lot of respect for his stand on vaccinations.
What took him so long?