Recently, religious TV guy Joel Osteen displayed how little he’s willing to literally practice what he literally preaches when he seemingly refused to open up his enormous Lakewood Church in Houston to people seeking shelter in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. Osteen initially tried to offer just his “thoughts and prayers” to the victims of the hurricane, as if he couldn’t fit 16,000 people in his big religion dome, but people on the internet quickly made it clear just how shitty and hypocritical he was being. After all of that, when he basically had no choice, Osteen explained that he had been concerned about opening up his church before he and his people could make sure it was safe, but then he finally began to welcome people inside.
The whole thing made Osteen look pretty bad, but he still has at least one fan: Tyler Perry. As reported by Page Six (via Uproxx), Perry is one of many celebrities donating a bunch of money to the hurricane relief efforts, but a good chunk of his donation is specifically going to Osteen’s Lakewood Church. In a statement, Perry said that he’s giving $250,000 to Osteen because of the controversy, explaining that he believes Osteen and his wife are “amazing people” and that “there is no way they would lock people out of the church and not let people in for shelter” (even though that’s apparently what they did). Perry went on to say that he trusts Osteen to use the money to get supplies for the people who need it, “because that’s the kind of person he is.”