Actor and comic Michael Che made a generous gesture for some public housing residents in New York.
The New York Times reported the "Saturday Night Live" cast member said on Instagram that he would pay one month's rent for 160 families that live in the New York City Housing Authority building where his grandmother once lived.
"Its crazy to me that residents of public housing are still expected to pay their rent when so many New Yorkers can't even work," Che wrote on Instagram Wednesday. "Obviously i cant offer much help by myself. But in the spirit and memory of my late grandmother, im paying one months rent for all 160 apartments in the NYCHA building she lived in."
“I know thats just a drop in the bucket,” he continued. “so I really hope the city has a better plan for debt forgiveness for all the people in public housing, AT THE VERY LEAST.”
Che also called on New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and mogul Diddy to help.
CNN reported that Che said in a since-deleted Instagram post that he lost his grandmother due to the coronavirus.
"I'm doing OK, considering. I'm obviously very hurt and angry that she had to go through all that pain alone," he said, according to Deadline. "But I'm also happy that she's not in pain anymore. And I also feel guilty for feeling happy. Basically the whole gamut of complex feelings everybody else has losing someone very close and special. I'm not unique. But it's still scary. I don't know if I'll lose someone else to this virus. I don't know if I'll be lost to this virus."
“I’m just frustrated because there’s so much we still don’t know about it, and I don’t think we are getting the whole truth,” he said.
The Times reported Che's grandmother once lived in the Alfred E. Smith Houses on Manhattan's Lower East Side, but moved out in the 1990s.
Che also paid tribute to his grandmother during “SNL’s” virtual show last weekend, signing off from “Weekend Update” by saying, “From Weekend Update, I’m Martha’s grandbaby.”
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