“Saturday Night Live” star Michael Che announced on Wednesday that he would be paying rent for all 160 tenants of the apartment complex his late grandmother once lived in.
“Its crazy to me that residents of public housing are still expected to pay their rent when so many new yorkers cant even work,” Che wrote on Instagram.
Che went on to share that he plans to pay one month’s rent for his grandmother’s former apartment building, saying the act was “in the spirit and memory of my late grandmother” in his Instagram post.
Che’s grandmother contracted COVID-19 and passed away on April 5, according to HuffPost.
“I know thats just a drop in the bucket,” Che wrote on Instagram of his offer to pay rent. “So I really hope the city has a better plan for debt forgiveness for all the people in public housing, AT THE VERY LEAST.”
Gregory Russ, head of the New York City Housing Authority, which oversees all of the city’s public housing apartments, told the New York Times that he believes Che’s act will be beneficial to many individuals and families.
“It’s a very generous offer, and we really think it will be a benefit to those households in the building,” Russ told the Times.
“SNL” returned to the air last weekend with a remotely-filmed episode after taking a hiatus due to the coronavirus, according to the Deseret News.
Che spoke about his grandmother in the episode on April 11, and joked that she didn’t watch the show, the Times reported.
“She woke up at like 4 a.m. to pray,” Che joked, according to the Times. “You think she was watching Saturday Night Live? Never.”
Che also signed off from his “SNL” segment by saying, “I’m Martha’s grandbaby,” according to the Times.