Famed actor and director Tyler Perry is trying to find answers in the killing of a gay musician by reaching out to the public.
Perry announced on Wednesday that he is offering $100,000 to anyone with information that leads to a conviction in the murder of 24-year-old Josiah “Jonty” Robinson, who was found dead on Grenada’s BBC Beach last month. An autopsy concluded that the cause of death was strangulation.
In a recent Instagram post, Perry revealed that his friend, celebrity publicist Yvette Noel-Schure, told him about the death of the young musician who may have been targeted for being gay.
“Through her tears and grief she was telling me that in her home country of Grenada, a young man that was like a son to her was murdered,” the Madea creator wrote. “My soul ached as she shared that he was a young, gifted singer who was murdered because he was gay.”
Perry went on to say that he understands this specific kind of grief because he experienced it after his nephew died while in prison three years ago.
“It’s the pain that my sister and I carry not knowing what truly happened to my 25-year-old nephew, who we were told hung himself in prison just 3 years ago,” he wrote. “The pain of not knowing is truly gut-wrenching.”
The director said he and Noel-Schure are offering the large reward to “anyone who brings forth information that leads to the conviction of the murderer.”
“Please pray for his mother and Yvette and all of those that loved him, as well as every family who has been impacted by senseless violence,” he wrote.
While the Royal Grenada Police Force has yet to release a motive for the murder, Robinson was part an activist and part of a large LGBTQ+ community promoting some to speculate that he may have been killed because of his sexuality
Tenille Clarke, a writer and close friend of Robinsons’, wrote a personal essay for British Vogue where she talked about the singer’s zest for life and strong ties to the queer community.
“Jonty experienced the world around him with great adulation, joy, curiosity and hope,” she wrote in the essay. “But beyond the circle of friends and family that adored his gentle nature and fostered a community of love to encourage his spirit and protect his heart, the reciprocity of those sentiments outside of that circle of love were often boorishly infrequent, and, sometimes, acutely violent.”
Clarke added about her dear friend, “...murder will not define or contain his legacy. If shame dies when stories are told in safe spaces, then Jonty’s legacy is irrefutable proof that pride lives where stories connect in the truth and freedom of our circumstances.”
Perry has asked that anyone with information call the Criminal Investigation Division at +1-473-440 3921.