Tyler Perry Accused of Sexual Assault and Harassment by The Oval Actor Derek Dixon in New Lawsuit
Derek Dixon, who has appeared as Dale in more than 80 episodes of the White House-centric soap, is seeking $260 million in punitive damages against Perry, who serves as The Oval's creator, writer, director and executive producer.
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Dixon alleges that Perry harassed him over the course of several years, including sending him sexually explicit text messages and making multiple unwanted sexual advances.
'This is an individual who got close to Tyler Perry for what now appears to be nothing more than setting up a scam,' Perry's attorney Matthew Boyd told our sister site Variety in a statement. 'But Tyler will not be shaken down and we are confident these fabricated claims of harassment will fail.'
According to Dixon, the harassment began shortly after he met Perry while working for an event company that organized a party for one of Perry's projects in 2019. This meeting led to Dixon appearing in several episodes of The Oval spinoff Ruthless, before having his character transferred over to the flagship series.
In the suit, Dixon recalls staying at Perry's Atlanta home in 2020. According to documents, Dixon was too inebriated to drive home, so Perry offered to let him stay in a guest room. Perry allegedly followed Dixon into bed and began touching him suggestively, at which point Dixon says he jumped out of bed and made it clear that he 'was not into sex.'
In one text exchange, Perry allegedly asks Dixon what it's going to take for him to have 'guiltless sex.' When Dixon says he has 'religious guilt,' Perry supposedly replies, 'I have friends in their 50s and 60s who are still dealing with that and it's so sad. You can … have freedom from religious guilt and still believe in Christ.'
But Dixon's allegations aren't limited to his own experiences with Perry. The suit claims that Perry 'has been using his power and influence to molest, abuse, and sexually assault impressionable and vulnerable employees and actors who look to him for guidance and mentorship while pursuing their dreams,' likening him to Harvey Weinstein, Bill Cosby and even Sean 'Diddy' Combs.
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