Saturday Night Live comedian Michael Che vowed to pay one month’s rent for the tenants living in a New York City public housing complex where his grandmother, who recently died of the coronavirus, resided.
“It’s 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 on Wednesday, announcing that he would pay the rent for 160 apartments in the building where his grandmother, Martha, lived until the 1990s.
“Obviously, I can’t offer much help by myself,” he added. “I know that’s just a drop in the bucket. 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 called on Mayor Bill de Blasio, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and rapper and entrepreneur Sean “Diddy” Combs to act.
New York City has been a hotbed for the coronavirus outbreak in the United States, with more than 10,000 deaths from the virus reported in recent weeks.
