Tyler Perry offers $100,000 reward in connection with gay man killed in Grenada
Josiah “Jonty” Robinson was murdered in Grenada in June, and now Hollywood giant Tyler Perry is offering a $100,000 reward for any information that leads to a conviction. (Instagram/@josiah_gnd)
Hollywood writer and producer Tyler Perry is offering a $100,000 (approximately £78,000) reward for information in relation to the killing of a gay man in Grenada.
Singer Josiah “Jonty” Robinson, 24, was found dead, on 18 June, on BBC Beach in the island nation’s capital, St George’s, where he had performed a day earlier.
Homosexuality is illegal in the Caribbean country, with same-sex acts punishable by up to 10 years in jail, while sexual orientation and gender identity are not legally protected from discrimination.
A week after the singer, actor and model was found dead, local media outlet The New Today reported police sources confirming an autopsy report concluded he died from “manual strangulation”.
Now, Perry and his friend Yvette Noel-Schure are offering the reward “to anyone who brings forth information that leads to the conviction of the murderer”.
Announcing the reward on Instagram, Perry said when Noel-Schure told him about the death, his mind “immediately went to Matthew Shepard, and all the other victims of racist, homophobic, antisemitic, xenophobic, senseless violence”.
“This pain is too common,” Tyler Perry wrote on social media, referring to the impact on living family members.
“It’s the pain my sister and I carry, not knowing what truly happened to my 25-year-old nephew, who we were told [hanged] himself in prison three years ago. The pain of not knowing is truly gut-wrenching.
“Please pray for [Robinson’s] mother and Yvette and all of those who loved him, as well as every family who has been impacted by senseless violence.”
Writing in British Vogue, Robinson’s friend Tenille Clarke said he was “an outspoken, openly gay man” who “experienced the world around him with great adulation, joy, curiosity and hope”.
However, she noted that LGBTQ+ views in the Caribbean meant Robinson’s “approach to activism… his voracious desire to live in his simple, beautiful truth, often became a cyclic matter of life or death”.
Clarke added: “Jonty repeatedly showed up for any cause and displayed a genuineness in his care and confidence, with no favours required in return.”
Death was “the most indiscriminate, masterful thief” of joy and memories, she went on, but “murder will not define or contain his legacy”.
Anyone with information is encouraged to call the Royal Grenada Criminal Investigation Division on +1 473 440 3921.
