Michael Che has turned his grief into giving.
After his grandmother passed away this month from the coronavirus, the “Saturday Night Live” star on Wednesday pledged to pay rent for all the residents in the apartment complex where she lived.
“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. “Obviously, I can’t offer much help by myself. But in the spirit and memory of my late grandmother, I’m paying one month’s rent for all 160 apartments in the [New York City Housing Authority] building she lived in.”
“I know that’s just a drop in the bucket,” Che added. “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’s grandmother, Martha, died April 5 after contracting COVID-19.
“I’m obviously very hurt and angry that she had to go through all that pain alone,” Che wrote at the time. “But I’m also happy that she’s not in pain anymore.”
During “SNL’s” home edition last weekend, Che paid tribute by signing off “Weekend Update” as “Martha’s grandbaby.”