US actor and director Tyler Perry has been accused of sexual assault by an actor who starred on his long-running TV show, The Oval, but Perry has denied the claims
American actor and director Tyler Perry, 55, is facing accusations of sexual assault – which he strongly denies. The alleged claim comes from an actor who starred on the filmmaker’s long-running TV show, The Oval.
According to TMZ, Derek Dixon has filed a lawsuit against Perry and claims the movie mogul “picked him out of a crowd” in 2019 and asked him for his phone number regarding a future acting role.
Perry reportedly then gave Dixon cameos in two episodes of a show called Ruthless.
He then claims he stayed over at Perry’s Atlanta home in January 2020 and alleges Perry climbed into bed with him. Dixon claims he rejected Perry’s advances at the time.
Dixon went on to land the role of Dale in The Oval – one of Perry’s projects – but claims in the documents seen by TMZ that Perry began sending him sexually suggestive text messages.
He claims he didn’t file a complaint of sexual harassment at the time due to fearing he would lose his job. According to TMZ, Dixon filed the suit with Equal Employment and Opportunity Commission in June 2024, before resigning from The Oval.
Dixon is suing Perry personally and Tyler Perry Studios for workplace sexual harassment and sexual assault and battery. The actor is requesting $260million in damages.
In a statement shared with the Mirror on Tuesday night, a representative for Perry said: “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.”
Perry is a renowned filmmaker and playwright and in addition to producing his own work, has also starred in Hollywood movies like Gone Girl, Don’t Look Up and Star Trek.
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