An actor has filed a complaint against Tyler Perry accusing the Atlanta media mogul of a “sustained pattern of workplace sexual harassment, assault, and retaliation.”
Derek Dixon was a regular on Perry’s drama “The Oval” for multiple seasons. The complaint said he experienced “escalating sexual harassment, assault and battery, and professional retaliation when Mr. Dixon did not reciprocate Mr. Perry’s unwanted advances.”
The 46-page complaint was filed June 13 in the Superior Court of California in Los Angeles. Dixon is currently a resident of Los Angeles after having lived in Atlanta for many years.
He is seeking $260 million in damages.
Perry’s attorney Matthew Boyd responded to the lawsuit Tuesday in a written statement, without addressing the details: “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.”
According to the complaint, Dixon met Perry when Dixon was working at a party in Atlanta when Perry was opening Tyler Perry Studios in 2019. Perry landed the would-be actor a small role on the show “Ruthless” and they stayed in touch, with Dixon eventually pitching Perry his own pilot project.
The lawsuit includes texts provided by Dixon, allegedly between him and Perry, in which Dixon characterized Perry’s comments as “flirting.”
The lawsuit alleges that during a visit to Perry’s Douglasville home in January 2020, Dixon drank too much. The complaint alleges Perry convinced him to stay in a guest room overnight. According to the complaint, he awoke to Perry touching him “in a highly sexual and suggestive manner.”
Dixon alleged he jumped out of the bed and told Perry he wasn’t sexual, to get him to stop, which Perry did, the complaint said. He said he ignored Perry’s texts until Perry offered him a regular role on “The Oval.”
In more alleged texts included in the complaint, Perry talked about his sexual desires to Dixon. Dixon tried to stay polite, “fearing that his career would end before it began” if he outright rejected Perry, the complaint said.
Other allegations include another meeting at Perry’s home in 2020 in which Dixon alleged Perry attempted to choke Dixon. The filing also alleges that Perry groped Dixon’s buttocks while in a trailer on the set of the show. According to the complaint, the following year at Perry’s home while discussing a pilot project, Perry again groped Dixon who de-escalated the situation by “abruptly changing the subject.” The complaint alleges Perry was inebriated during the events on set and at his home.
After months of no contact, Dixon returned to “The Oval,” and Perry shot Dixon’s pilot, which was not picked up by a network, the complaint said. The harassment, Dixon alleged in the complaint, continued.
According to the complaint, in mid-2024, Perry offered Dixon a writing job but instead, Dixon filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and quit his acting job on “The Oval.”
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