US actor hits Hollywood director Tyler Perry hit with $400m sex assault lawsuit
Tyler Perry has been accused of sexual assault and years of sexual harassment by actor Derek Dixon, who's suing the 'Madea' creator for $260 million (AU$400m).
Dixon — who's an actor on Perry's show The Oval — alleges that the movie producer first made sexual advances toward him after inviting him to his home in Atlanta in January 2020, according to court documents obtained by Page Six.
Perry denies all accusations, with his counsel labelling the claims 'fabricated'.
In the lawsuit, Dixon says that he drank too much and slept in one of Perry's guest rooms. He alleges Perry got into bed with him and touched his thighs, but he rejected Perry's advances.
Dixon, who says in his complaint that he first met Perry after he picked him out of a crowd at a 2019 event and asked for his phone number for a possible role, further alleges that after getting cast in The Oval, Perry continued to send him sexual messages. The messages in the complaint allegedly include Perry asking him his sexual preferences and noting that he has sex with men.
Dixon claims he again visited Perry at him home later in 2020, in fear that Perry would kill off his character if he didn't. Perry allegedly started a sexually charged conversation, grabbed him by his throat and told him, 'Wow! Look how excited you just got!' Dixon says he was in shock and immediately tried to de-escalate the situation.
According to the complaint, Dixon was scared his career would suffer if he bluntly rejected Perry and that he would lose his job if he complained about sexual harassment.
The lawsuit includes years of alleged sexually charged text messages from Perry to Dixon, including one that reads in part, 'I would f**k you.'
Dixon is seeking $260 million (AU$400m) in damages for quid pro quo, workplace sexual harassment, sexual assault and battery.
Perry's lawyer, Matthew Boyd, called Dixon's lawsuit a shakedown in a statement obtained by Page Six.
'This is an individual who got close to Tyler Perry for what now appears to be nothing more than setting up a scam,' Boyd's statement reads.
'But Tyler will not be shaken down and we are confident these fabricated claims of harassment will fail.'
TMZ was first to report the news.
Perry is the writer, director and executive director of The Oval, a political drama soap that has been running since 2019 on BET. The show also has its own spin-off, Ruthless, on BET+.
Perry hasn't publicly dated anyone since 2020, when he split from ex-girlfriend Gelila Bekele.
They share a son together, Aman, who was born in 2014.
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