Tyler Perry got embroiled in controversy as The Oval star, Derek Dixon hit him with sexual harassment and assault lawsuit.
The BET’s Ruthless alum filed $260 million in the Superior Court of California June 13.
As per the court documents accessed by E! News, Dixon accused the director of using ‘considerable influence in the entertainment industry to create a coercive, sexually exploitative dynamic’ between each other.
Dixon elaborated how Perry misuses his power to exploit new actors and rob them off their innocence.
“First, he offers aspiring actors the prospect of career-defining opportunities,” he stated.
Dixon further alleged that the filmmaker lures aspiring actors with opportunities that could be career changing. However, later when they get into ‘his professional orbit, he uses the weight of his influence to ensnare them, positioning their success as contingent on meeting his demands, in a quid pro quo sexual compromise.’
Dixon shared that he got to meet the filmmaker for the first time in September 2019. Allegedly, after the numbers were exchanged, the actor began to receive ‘sexually-charged’ texts while he was being offered a minor role in Ruthless.
His sexual advances didn’t stop there as per Dixon’s account. He reported that the The Oval creator even groped him twice: Once while working on the show and the second time when the two were discussing potential project at Perry’s residence.
Dixon also accused Perry of even slipping into his bed and touching him inappropriately when he had stayed at Perry’s residence in Georgia ‘after a night of drinking’.
Dixon admitted that he had to leave The Oval eventually due to his obnoxious behaviour.
He added in the complaint that Perry has caused him ‘physical sickness, physical injuries, body pains, anxiety, worry, embarrassment, humiliation, injury to his professional reputation, mental anguish, emotional distress and posttraumatic stress disorder’.
Perry has denied all the allegations. His attorney Matthew Boyd said the allegations are false.
“This is an individual who got close to Tyler Perry for what now appears to be nothing more than setting up a scam,” Boyd recorded statement against the lawsuit. “But Tyler will not be shaken down, and we are confident these fabricated claims of harassment will fail.”
