Tyler Perry Sued for $260 Million Over Sexual Harassment and Assault Allegations

Actor Derek Dixon is suing Tyler Perry for $260 million over alleged sexual harassment, assault and retaliation.

Within the grievance filed Friday, June 13, in Los Angeles, which was obtained by PEOPLE, Dixon accused Perry of making “a coercive, sexually exploitative dynamic” between them whereas he was starring on the filmmaker’s exhibits The Oval and Ruthless, on which Dixon starred as a personality named Dale.

The grievance accused Perry of “initially promising him profession development and inventive alternatives, corresponding to producing his pilot and casting him in his present, solely to topic him to escalating sexual harassment, assault and battery, {and professional} retaliation when Mr. Dixon didn’t reciprocate Mr. Perry’s undesirable advances.”

Matthew Boyd, an legal professional for Perry, responded to Dixon’s grievance in a press release to PEOPLE, saying, “That is a person who obtained near Tyler Perry for what now seems to be nothing greater than establishing a rip-off.”

“However Tyler is not going to be shaken down and we’re assured these fabricated claims of harassment will fail,” the assertion continued.

Dixon claimed he met Perry in September 2019 when working the opening occasion for Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta, Georgia.

Dixon alleged that, over the subsequent few months, Perry typically texted him, typically with suggestive advances, but additionally that he needed to search out Dixon a job and alter his life. In November 2019, Dixon claimed Perry provided him a small position on Ruthless.

Dixon claimed that Perry sexually assaulted him at Perry’s house in January 2020, and the subsequent month, he provided Dixon a sequence common position on The Oval, the grievance states.

The actor alleged that, upon studying the script for his first season, he found his character’s destiny was left up within the air within the finale.

“Mr. Perry made it clear to Dixon that if Dixon ignored Perry or failed to interact with the sexual innuendos, Dixon’s character would ‘die’ within the subsequent season,” the grievance alleged. “Certainly, Dixon’s character ‘Dale’ was shot 4 instances within the chest on the finish of his first season on ‘The Oval,’ and Perry at all times held this over Mr. Dixon’s head, implying that ‘Dale’ would survive if Dixon saved Perry ‘blissful.'”

Dixon recounted a second after filming the scene wherein his character was shot, Perry invited him to his trailer, the place he allegedly pinned him to the wall of his trailer and commenced “aggressively groping Dixon’s buttocks in a sexual movement.”

Within the grievance, The actor claimed he was equally groped throughout a forged journey to the Bahamas in October 2020.

Dixon alleged that in December 2020 he visited a doctor “who indicated that Dixon’s exhibited extreme signs of acute stress, insomnia, abdomen points, and dangerously low cortisol ranges as a result of sexual harassment and assault” and prescribed him Zoloft, an antidepressant.

Dixon claimed Perry invited him to his home once more in June 2021 to debate Dixon’s pilot for his present Dropping It, which Perry had expressed curiosity in producing. He alleged he was once more sexually assaulted by Perry at this assembly.

Over the subsequent 5 months, Dixon stated he “suffered from extreme melancholy, nervousness, abdomen pains, and nausea” and was identified with post-traumatic stress dysfunction (PTSD) following the alleged incidents.

Dixon claimed that Perry’s “fixers” provided him a increase to return to The Oval and that Perry would purchase the appropriate to provide his present, Dropping It.

Dixon knowledgeable Perry in January 2023 that he was shifting to California to “put a ways” between them.

Dixon continued to star on The Oval however left in the course of the present’s ultimate season, a transfer he claimed resulted in him dropping out on near $400,000.

In accordance with the grievance, the actor is suing Perry for quid professional quo sexual harassment, sexual battery, sexual assault, intentional infliction of emotional misery, retaliation and extra.

Dixon is requesting a jury trial and for damages of $260 million.

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PEOPLE has reached out to representatives for BET, the community behind Ruthless and The Oval, for remark.

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.