Tyler Perry accused of sexual assault, actor harassing his TV series The Oval

Actors working on TV series created by Tyler Perry Oval A lawsuit has been filed accusing Perry of using his industry power to repeatedly sexual assault and harass him while keeping quiet.

Actor Derek Dixon, a lawsuit filed in the Los Angeles Superior Court, appeared in episode 85 of the BET series, demanding at least $260 million in U.S. damages.

“Mr. Perry has mastered his success and strength and leveraged his tremendous influence in the entertainment industry to establish a dynamic of compulsive, sexual exploitation with Mr. Dixon – initially expected to promise his career development and creative opportunities such as making his pilot and throwing him into the show, just to escalate his sexual harassment, assault, assault, assault, assault, assault, assault, assault, assault, assault, assault, and retaliation.”

The lawsuit was filed Friday and reported for the first time on Tuesday. Perry's attorney Matthew Boyd said the allegations were wrong.

“This is someone close to Tyler Perry because it seems like it's just a scam right now,” Boyd said in a statement Tuesday.

“But Taylor will not waver, and we believe these fabricated harassment claims will fail.”

The lawsuit says Perry first noticed Dixon in 2019, when Dixon was part of Perry's party activist who later gave him an audition. Dixon will first appear in the small characters in Perry's series ruthless Before playing a bigger role in political drama Oval.

According to the lawsuit, Perry soon began sending unwanted sexual text messages to Dixon, including screenshots of several of them. “What do you need for innocent sex?” one of the messages said.

Perry provided an increasingly important role for Dixon as his sexual behavior became more aggressive, the lawsuit said.

The actor said he tried to stay friendly while maintaining boundaries.

“Dickson did his best to revolve around Mr Perry's sexual assault while adhering to Mr Perry's good side,” the lawsuit said.

“Mr. Perry made it clear to Dixon that if Dixon ignored Perry or had not interacted with Sex Pictures, Dixon's character would be 'dead.'”

Perry ended up sexually assaulting Dixon in “multiple times”, including that he “forcedly took off Mr. Dixon’s clothes, groped his hips, and tried to force himself toward Dixon”, the lawsuit said.

Dixon tells Perry clearly, but is initially ignored until he is able to lower the situation and change the subject matter. The next day, Perry apologized and told Dickson that he would be with Dickson on TV pilot Dixon trying to make the TV pilot.

Dixon later received a lawsuit suggesting a pay raise that was part of keeping him quiet. He said the fear of dying about his character kept him quiet as he expected.

Perry also produced and purchased the pilot's rights, called Lose itbut the lawsuit says Perry has no intention of selling the show, but instead uses it for Dixon's leverage.

The lawsuit states several other attacks, including Dixon sitting in a Perry room in a room at Perry’s house when Perry accidentally climbed into bed and began to grop him.

Dickson will eventually move from Atlanta, Perry’s production studio to Los Angeles to get a distance between the two.

Dixon filed a complaint in 2024 with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which aims to enforce discrimination and harassment laws in the workplace. He quit when this did not lead to any action from the show producer.

The Associated Press usually doesn’t name people who say they’re sexually abused unless they publicly stand up like Dickson.

Oval It is one of many TV series directed, directed and directed by 55-year-old Perry, who was first known as the creator and star Wheat field movies, and thereafter established a major production empire in television and film.

As an actor, he also appears in the movie Go to the girl and Don't look up.