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Actor Derek Dixon filed a lawsuit against Perry, claiming that he made advances on him in 2020.
Filmmaker Tyler Perry has denied sexual assault allegations against him. Picture: tylerperry/Instagram
Speaking through his attorney, actor Tyler Perry has described accusations of sexual assault against him by an actor on one of his shows as a “scam”.
“This is an individual who got close to Tyler Perry for what now appears to be nothing more than setting up a scam,” said Perry’s lawyer, Matthew Boyd.
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Lawsuit against Tyler Perry
In the lawsuit papers, actor Derek Dixon says he first met Perry in 2019 at an event where the latter picked him out of the crowd and asked for Dixon’s number. Soon after, Dixon landed a role on Perry’s TV show, Ruthless.
Dixon filed a lawsuit against Perry, claiming that Perry made advances on him in 2020 after the Madea actor had invited Dixon to his home.
The lawsuit alleges that Perry got into bed with him after Dixon had too much to drink. Dixon claims Perry touched his thighs, and although he rejected the advances that night, Dixon claims Perry remained interested in him.
Soon after, Dixon landed a bigger role in Perry’s political drama series The Oval, featuring in all six seasons of the series.
Dixon’s lawsuit includes alleged texts between the two where Perry flirts with the actor. Dixon seemingly rebuffs Perry without trying to offend him out of fear of losing his job.
However, Dixon eventually complained about the alleged misconduct; however, the “defendants did not make any investigation into the complaint and did not take any steps to prevent further harassment from occurring.”
He then quit The Oval, claiming that the decision to leave the long-running show cost him $400 000 (more than R7 million) in lost wages.
But Perry’s lawyer said, “Tyler will not be shaken down and we are confident these fabricated claims of harassment will fail.”
Dixon is suing for a total of $260 million in damages, as well as legal expenses.
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Perry’s Straw finds success
Meanwhile, the Perry-directed film Straw, released on Netflix on the first Friday of June, has found success on the platform.
The film, starring Taraji P. Henson, has garnered the highest numbers on Netflix in a single week for a movie.
According to Netflix’s companion website Tudum, the Perry-written and produced film was a Top 10 hit on Netflix in all countries, and was the third most-watched title on IMDb this past week, amassing an additional 48.9 million views.
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