Tyler Perry accused of sexual assault by actor Derek Dixon in lawsuit
Derek Dixon filed a lawsuit in California against Tyler Perry (Unique Nicole/Getty Images)
Derek Dixon filed a lawsuit in California against Tyler Perry (Unique Nicole/Getty Images)
Media mogul Tyler Perry is being sued for $260m (£193m) by actor Derek Dixon.
Dixon, who appeared in Perry’s long-running political drama The Oval and its spin-off Ruthless, filed the lawsuit in Los Angeles on Friday (13 June), alleging that filmmaker, playwright and fellow actor Perry used his “success and power [and] considerable influence in the entertainment industry to create a coercive, sexually exploitative dynamic”.
In the complaint, seen by The Independent, Dixon claimed Perry initially promised him “career advancement and creative opportunities” only to “subject him to escalating sexual harassment, assault and battery, and professional retaliation when Mr Dixon did not reciprocate Mr Perry’s unwanted advances”.
Perry has denied the claims, and his lawyer Matthew Boyd, has counter-claimed that Dixon was an “individual who got close to Tyler Perry for what now appears to be nothing more than setting up a scam”.
“Tyler will not be shaken down and we are confident these claims of harassment will fail,” Boyd said.
The two men are said to have met in 2019 at the opening party of Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta, Georgia, and spoke about Dixon’s acting career for the next few months.
Perry offered him a role in his shows, but the lawsuit alleged that the that he “made it clear to Dixon that if he ignored Perry or failed to engage with the sexual innuendos, Dixon’s character would ‘die’ in the next season”.
The lawsuit also claimed that Perry made sexual advances towards Dixon, including sending suggestive texts, getting into bed with him after a night of drinking, and touching Dixon’s backside, as well as interrogating him over his sexual interests.
All the advances were said to have been rejected by Dixon, who did not wish to pursue a sexual relationship.
When Dixon raised concerns about the allegedly inappropriate behaviour, the “defendants did not make any investigation into the complaint and did not take any steps to prevent further harassment from occurring”, the lawsuit went on to claim.
