Tyler Perry is dealing with authorized backlash to the tune of $260 million from an actor who appeared in his BET drama “The Oval” and is accusing the media mogul of quid professional quo sexual harassment, sexual battery and retaliation, amongst different counts.
Perry’s accuser, actor Derek Dixon, filed his lawsuit towards the billionaire movie and TV producer in Los Angeles County Superior Courtroom on Friday. The actor claims Perry leveraged his energy and standing in leisure “to create a coercive, sexually exploitative dynamic with Mr. Dixon — initially promising him profession development and inventive alternatives,” based on courtroom paperwork reviewed by The Instances. Tyler Perry Studios and the And Motion manufacturing firm are listed as co-defendants.
A consultant for Perry didn’t instantly reply to The Instances’ request for remark however his lawyer Matthew Boyd dismissed the lawsuit as a “rip-off,” based on an announcement shared with a number of retailers.
“Tyler is not going to be shaken down and we’re assured these fabricated claims of harassment will fail,” the statement stated.
In his 46-page criticism, Dixon says he met the “Home of Payne” creator in September 2019 when he was working as occasion employees for certainly one of Perry’s events. The multi-hyphenate entertainer provided Dixon the possibility to audition for his present “Ruthless” a month after their first assembly. Perry claimed he would “change [Plaintiff’s] life” and provided him a small position within the TV collection, “organising the primary stage in a collection of escalating quid professional quo provides,” the lawsuit alleges.
From January 2020 to June 2024, Perry “sustained a sample of office sexual harassment, assault and retaliation,” the lawsuit alleges. Dixon appeared in 85 episodes of Perry’s presidential drama “The Oval” from 2021 to 2025, based on IMDb.
Dixon accused Perry of relentlessly probing him about his intercourse life, making suggestive feedback and expressing jealousy about his interactions with different males throughout the period of their work collectively. The criticism options a number of screenshots of alleged conversations between Dixon and the media mogul, together with messages by which the director asks “What’s it going to take so that you can have guiltless intercourse?” and likens the actor to a rose however says he’s “so blocked that you simply refuse to be smelt [sic] or opened.”
The lawsuit — which evokes circumstances towards Harvey Weinstein, Invoice Cosby, Kevin Spacey and different high-profile Hollywood figures accused of sexual harassment — additionally particulars a number of events the place Perry allegedly groped the actor. The primary was in January 2020 when Dixon stayed the night time in a visitor room at Perry’s dwelling in Georgia and allegedly felt Perry “slip into mattress behind him and begin rubbing Dixon’s physique round his interior thigh in a extremely sexual and suggestive method.” Dixon additionally accuses Perry of “violently” grabbing his throat in March 2020, groping his buttocks in a trailer later that 12 months, and flattening his underwear and groping his buttocks once more in June 2021.
The criticism underscores that Dixon repeatedly refused Perry’s advances and walked a high quality line, protecting his interactions with Perry skilled however pleasant sufficient to stay in his good graces. He claims the specter of Perry killing off his character continuously loomed over his “Oval” tenure. Along with casting Dixon in his collection, Perry additionally expressed curiosity in serving to the actor develop a present, the lawsuit says.
Dixon distanced himself from Perry after the alleged June 2021 assault, the lawsuit says, however the producer’s “fixers” reached out with a brand new storyline for his “Oval” character and a pay increase. In addition they allegedly instructed Dixon he couldn’t inform his castmates concerning the new perks.
Perry allegedly continued to ask Dixon about his intercourse life by way of the years that adopted and in March 2024 plans to pitch Dixon’s present started to crumble. After Perry provided Dixon a writing spot on certainly one of his collection in June 2024, Dixon “awoke and realized Perry was by no means going to be severe about serving to Dixon” develop his profession, the lawsuit says.
Dixon claims he reported the alleged sexual harassment to the Equal Employment Alternative Fee however the criticism was not investigated. Dixon left “The Oval” and Perry allegedly retaliated by telling Dixon he might say solely that he was taking medical go away. “Defendant made the go away of absence unpaid and due to this fact terminated Plaintiff’s employment inflicting Dixon extra lack of earnings and insult,” the swimsuit says.
The lawsuit additionally consists of allegations of labor atmosphere harassment, office gender violence, sexual assault, negligent retention and intentional infliction of emotional misery.
