An actor and screenwriter is suing Tyler Perry for US$260 million in a lawsuit alleging that the media mogul leveraged his business energy to repeatedly sexually assault and harass him whereas retaining him quiet.
Derek Dixon, who performed the character Dale on Perry’s The Oval for 85 episodes, claims that Perry subjected him “to escalating sexual harassment, assault and battery, and professional retaliation when Mr. Dixon did not reciprocate Mr. Perry’s unwanted advances.”
The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on June 13, alleges that “Mr. Perry took his success and power and used his considerable influence in the entertainment industry to create a coercive, sexually exploitative dynamic with Mr. Dixon — initially promising him career advancement and creative opportunities, such as producing his pilot and casting him in his show.”
Perry’s lawyer, Matthew Boyd, stated the lawsuit’s allegations are false.
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“This is an individual who got close to Tyler Perry for what now appears to be nothing more than setting up a scam,” Boyd stated in an announcement on Tuesday. “But Tyler will not be shaken down, and we are confident these fabricated claims of harassment will fail.”
The lawsuit, seen by the New York Times, stated Perry first seen Dixon in 2019 when he was a part of the occasion employees at a celebration Perry was throwing and he supplied Dixon an audition.
Dixon would first seem in a small function on the Perry sequence Ruthless earlier than getting a bigger function on the political drama The Oval.
Perry quickly started sending undesirable sexual textual content messages to Dixon, in line with the lawsuit, which incorporates screenshots of a number of conversations between the 2.
“What’s it going to take for you to have guiltless sex?” one of many messages learn.
In one occasion talked about within the swimsuit, Perry allegedly invited Dixon to his residence in Douglasville, close to Atlanta, in 2020, the place the 2 had a couple of drinks and Dixon spent the night time in a visitor room.
Dixon alleges within the lawsuit that through the night time, Perry received into mattress with him and commenced “rubbing Dixon’s body around his inner thigh in a highly sexual and suggestive manner.” Dixon claims that he jumped out of the mattress and instructed Perry that he “wasn’t that sexual.”
The lawsuit says Perry supplied Dixon an more and more outstanding function on The Oval following the interplay and that’s when he claims his sexual advances turned extra aggressive.
The actor stated he tried to stay pleasant whereas sustaining boundaries.
“Dixon did his best to tiptoe around Mr. Perry’s sexual aggression while keeping on Mr. Perry’s good side,” the lawsuit alleged. “Mr. Perry made it clear to Dixon that if Dixon ignored Perry or failed to have interaction with the sexual innuendoes, Dixon’s character would ‘die.’”
The lawsuit also alleges that Perry eventually sexually assaulted Dixon on “multiple occasions,” including an instance where he “forcibly pulled off Mr. Dixon’s clothes, groped his buttocks, and tried to drive himself on Dixon.”
Dixon stated he instructed Perry “no,” however was initially ignored till he was in a position to de-escalate the scenario and alter the topic, in line with the swimsuit.
The following day, Perry allegedly apologized and instructed Dixon he would work with him on a TV pilot Dixon was looking for to provide.
Dixon claims that he acquired a increase that he believes was a part of an try and maintain him quiet, in line with the lawsuit.
He additionally stated the concern of his character dying on The Oval saved him from talking out about his allegations in opposition to Perry.
Perry additionally produced and purchased the rights to the pilot, known as Losing It, however the lawsuit alleges Perry had no intention of promoting the present and was utilizing it just for leverage over Dixon.
Dixon stated he moved from Atlanta, the place Perry’s manufacturing studio is positioned, to Los Angeles to place distance between the 2 of them.
In 2024, Dixon filed a grievance with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and when that didn’t end in any motion from the present’s producers, he stop.
Dixon is requesting a jury trial and looking for damages of $260 million.
— With information from The Associated Press
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