Tyler Perry has been sued for sexual harassment and assault by Derek Dixon, an actor on The Oval and Ruthless who alleges the leisure mogul pinned him in opposition to a wall and groped him.
Dixon claims Perry has made a number of undesirable sexual advances on him since 2021, together with one occasion wherein his garments have been forcibly pulled off in an tried assault and one other wherein the mogul allegedly sneaked into mattress with him. He accuses Perry of participating in a sample of exploiting male actors in his productions, leveraging his energy in Hollywood to harass these in his orbit. For years, Perry has “been utilizing his energy and affect to molest, abuse, and sexually assault impressionable and susceptible workers and actors who look to him for steerage and mentorship whereas pursuing their desires,” in keeping with the lawsuit filed on Friday in Los Angeles Superior Courtroom.
In an announcement, Matthew Boyd, a lawyer for Perry, known as Dixon an “particular person who acquired near Tyler Perry for what now seems to be nothing greater than organising a rip-off.” He added, “Tyler is not going to be shaken down and we’re assured these fabricated claims of harassment will fail.”
Dixon brings claims for sexual harassment, battery and assault, amongst a number of others over office misconduct. He seeks at the very least $260 million.
Within the lawsuit, Dixon says Perry recruited him in 2019 to behave on Ruthless whereas he working a celebration for an occasions firm in Atlanta, dwelling of Tyler Perry Studios. The mogul regularly talked about intercourse in texts, in keeping with the grievance, which incorporates messages wherein Perry mentioned, “What’s it going to take so that you can have guiltless intercourse?” and, “I really like how I really feel proper now however I don’t like being sexy.”
The scenario escalated in January 2020, when Dixon was invited to Perry’s dwelling, the lawsuit alleged. On the finish of the night time, Dixon agreed to remain the night time in a visitor room after being advised he was too inebriated to drive.
“Earlier than he knew what was occurring, Dixon felt another person slip into mattress behind him and begin rubbing Dixon’s physique round his inside thigh in a extremely sexual and suggestive method,” writes Jonathan Delshad, a lawyer for the actor, within the grievance. “Dixon rotated and noticed that Tyler Perry was in mattress with him.”
Following the alleged incident, Dixon largely ignored Perry till the mogul supplied him a job on The Oval. He says he tolerated ongoing harassment within the type of questions on his sexual preferences out of concern that his character on the present — a homosexual, homeless retailer clerk who was shot on the finish of the season — can be minimize.
After the second-to-last day of filming, Perry invited Dixon to his trailer for drinks, the lawsuit alleged. As soon as there, Dixon claims that Perry pinned him in opposition to a wall and groped him, in keeping with the grievance. He says that he wasn’t conscious of a human assets division to report the incident to.
And in June 2021, Perry “started to vigorously seize, grope, and play with Dixon’s buttocks in a sexual method” after the pair mentioned a present Dixon pitched, the lawsuit mentioned. After, the mogul’s “fixers” allegedly reached out to Dixon, who was supplied a $6,000 per episode increase to return for one more season of The Oval. He was additionally advised that Perry wished to purchase the precise to supply the pilot of his present, which finally wasn’t offered to a community due to Tyler Perry Studio’s preexisting contracts with Paramount World.
Dixon later reported the alleged sexual harassment to regulatory businesses. He declined to return for The Oval, which led to Perry telling him that he’d be in breach of his contract of he advised others on workers why he give up.