Tyler Perry is being sued for alleged sexual assault, battery, quid pro quo, and workplace sexual harassment by an actor who starred on his long-running political drama, The Oval.
The actor, Derek Dixon, who appeared on both the six-season drama and its spinoff Ruthless as Dale, filed the lawsuit in the Los Angeles Superior Court on June 13.
In the filing, obtained by The Independent, Perry is accused of using his “success and power” and his “considerable influence in the entertainment industry to create a coercive, sexually exploitative dynamic” with Dixon while he was employed as a series regular on The Oval.
The documents allege that Perry, 55, initially promised Dixon “career advancement and creative opportunities, such as producing his pilot and casting him in his show, 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.” Dixon alleges that in 2020 Perry climbed into bed with him after a night of drinking, and that Perry aggressively groped his buttocks while the pair were in Perry’s trailer on the set of The Oval.
Perry’s lawyer, Matthew Boyd, responded to Dixon’s accusations, saying in a statement shared with The Independent: “This is an individual who got close to Tyler Perry for what now appears to be nothing more than setting up a scam. But Tyler will not be shaken down and we are confident these fabricated claims of harassment will fail.”
According to the lawsuit, Dixon allegedly met Perry in September 2019 while he was working for the event company that organized the opening party for the media mogul’s Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta, Georgia.
It’s further claimed that from then on, Perry sometimes texted Dixon sexual advances and other times he messaged him about helping him find a job.
Screenshots of alleged text messages sent between the two show that after Dixon told Perry he was not interested in sex, Perry responded: “I would hope that you would let some one hold you and make love to you. You are missing the best years of your life my friend. Trust me. I hope you get past that block in your mind soon.”
After Perry offered Dixon a role in The Oval, the actor quit his job at the events company and Perry’s advances became more frequent. On one occasion, Perry is alleged to have asked Dixon whether he is a “top” or a “bottom” before saying that he himself is a “top” and that “when you have a big dick and when you hit the G-spot right on these bottoms, they go crazy”.
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Dixon claims he was worried he would lose his job if he refused Perry’s advances outright, so he continued to maintain that he was simply not interested in sex. At the end of one season, Perry wrote into The Oval that Dixon’s character had been shot multiple times but left it unclear as to whether the character had died. Dixon says he interpreted this as Perry putting pressure on him to maintain their relationship or otherwise be written out of the show.
In another text message shown in the filing, Perry is alleged to have warned Dixon against revealing details of their relationship, writing: “Listen to me. If you let the cast know that you and I have a new friendship then you are opening yourself up to a lot of questions and foolishness. You want them to KNOW that you are there because of your talent and not because we have a friendship.”
Dixon also alleges that Perry intimated he was interested in producing a show he had written, called Losing It, as a way of making him more dependent on the producer. He claims that in 2021, while staying in Perry’s guest house, he was again sexually assaulted and, fearing that he would be raped, slept inside a locked bathroom.
A few days after the incident, Perry allegedly called Dixon and blamed his actions on testosterone supplements. He again promised to make Dixon’s show, and bought the rights but never took action to produce it.
Dixon claims that as a result of Perry’s actions, he suffered from severe depression, anxiety, stomach pains, and nausea and was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). He is suing for $260 million in total damages as well as legal expenses.
