Leisure mogul Tyler Perry has been named in a $260 million lawsuit filed Friday in Los Angeles, claiming he sexually harassed an actor.
Actor Derek Dixon stated in authorized docs reviewed by Each day Mail that Perry, 55, aggressively tried to determine an sexual dynamic between them when he appeared on two of Perry’s packages on BET: Ruthless and The Oval.
Perry, who counts Oprah and Meghan Markle amongst his closest confidantes, ‘is not going to be shaken down and we’re assured these fabricated claims of harassment will fail,’ his lawyer Matthew Boyd instructed Each day Mail in an announcement Tuesday.
Boyd stated of Dixon: ‘That is a person who received near Tyler Perry for what now seems to be nothing greater than organising a rip-off.’
Described by The Sunday Occasions as one of many ‘strongest individuals within the movie and tv trade – and one of many richest’, Perry famously lent his $18m California house to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex after they stop the royal household in 2020.
On the time neither Markle nor Perry had met one another, however the pair are actually shut mates as he’s godfather to the couple’s daughter Lilibet.
Each day Mail has reached out to reps for Perry, BET and Dixon by way of his Instagram web page, for additional touch upon the story.
Leisure mogul Tyler Perry, 55, has been named in a $260 million lawsuit claiming he sexually harassed an actor. Pictured June 9 in LA on the BET Awards
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and Perry posed in LA at a December 4, 2024 occasion
A authorized grievance filed in opposition to Perry by Dixon’s crew states that Perry at first promised the actor ‘profession development and artistic alternatives.’
They included commitments such ‘as producing his pilot and casting him in his present,’ in keeping with authorized docs.
Perry subjected Dixon ‘to escalating sexual harassment, assault and battery, {and professional} retaliation when [Dixon] didn’t reciprocate Mr. Perry’s undesirable advances.’
Dixon in authorized docs stated he first crossed paths with Perry in September of 2019 at his Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta.
Dixon stated within the authorized grievance that after he first met the mogul at a celebration for one among Perry’s reveals, the New Orleans-born star started to ship him textual content messages with sexually-suggestive themes.
Within the authorized grievance, Dixon stated that Perry seemed to determine ‘a coercive, sexually exploitative dynamic’ between them when he labored on the set of The Oval and Ruthless, portraying a personality by the identify of Dale.
Dixon stated Perry supplied to carve out a roll for him that will change his life, starting in November of 2019 with a job within the sequence Ruthless.
And in January of 2020, Dixon alleges he was sexually assaulted by Perry on the leisure mogul’s house, in keeping with the authorized grievance.
Actor Derek Dixon stated that he initially crossed paths with the 55-year-old leisure mogul in September of 2019
Dixon stated within the authorized grievance that Perry seemed to determine ‘a coercive, sexually exploitative dynamic’ between them when he labored on the units of Perry’s reveals
In February 2020, Dixon instructed the court docket, Perry supplied him a recurring position on The Oval. (He wound up enjoying the position of Dale over 85 episodes unfold over 5 seasons from 2021–2025.)
Dixon stated Perry displayed his huge energy by leaving his character Dale with an unknown destiny to conclude The Oval’s first season.
‘Mr. Perry made it clear to Dixon that if Dixon ignored Perry or failed to have interaction with the sexual innuendos, Dixon’s character would ‘die’ within the subsequent season,’ the actor’s authorized grievance learn.
Perry topic Dixon to ‘escalating sexual harassment, assault and battery, {and professional} retaliation when Mr. Dixon didn’t reciprocate Mr. Perry’s undesirable advances,’ the authorized grievance said.
Dixon stated in his authorized grievance that Perry’s harassment additionally occurred within the wake of filming the scene by which his character Dale had been shot.
Within the authorized grievance, the actor stated that the leisure magnate started to aggressively grope his buttocks ‘in a sexual movement,’ which additionally had occurred throughout an October 2020 Bahamas journey with the case.
Dixon stated that a physician’s go to in late 2020 ‘indicated that [he] exhibited extreme signs of acute stress, insomnia, abdomen points, and dangerously low cortisol ranges as a result of sexual harassment and assault.’
He additionally stated he was subsequently prescribed the antidepressant Zoloft in December of 2020.
Dixon said within the authorized grievance that in June of 2021, he went to Perry’s home to speak a few potential pilot for a present referred to as Dropping It.
Dixon seen on The Oval enjoying the position of Dale over 85 episodes from 2021–2025
Perry, who counts Oprah and Meghan Markle amongst his closest confidantes, pictured in LA earlier this month
Perry had instructed him he was enthusiastic about producing this system previous to the assembly, Dixon stated in authorized paperwork.
The actor stated that in this assembly 4 years in the past, Perry sexually assaulted him, resulting in extreme melancholy, nervousness, abdomen pains, nausea and PTSD within the months that adopted.
Dixon stated within the authorized grievance, he instructed Perry in January of 2023 that he was relocating to California to determine ‘a long way’ between the 2 of them and that the transfer value him almost $400,000, as he was sidelined through the closing season of The Oval as results of his relocation.
Dixon accuses Perry of sexual harassment, battery and assault and extra within the lawsuit, requesting a complete of $260 million in damages.
Perry was in a long-term relationship with Gelila Bekele after they started courting in 2009.
Perry and his mannequin ex welcomed their son Aman in 2014, two years after they first met at a Prince live performance.
Perry was in a long-term relationship with Gelila Bekele after they started courting in 2009 (Seen in 2011)
Over their 13-year relationship, the pair hardly ever spoke of their courting life, in public, and have been vocal about additionally wanting to keep up their little boy’s privateness.
When requested about marriage in a 2013 look on The Tonight Present with Jay Leno, Perry admitted he wasn’t positive if he may ever see himself stroll down the aisle.
And in December 2020 he revealed he and Gelila had break up and he was now a batchelor.
‘That is what a midlife disaster seems to be like,’ he wrote on Instagram in 2020. ‘I am 51, single and questioning what the subsequent chapter in my life will appear to be.’
For those who or somebody you realize has been sexually assaulted, please contact the Nationwide Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to rainn.org.
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