Hollywood filmmaker and media mogul, Tyler Perry, is battling a $260 million sexual assault lawsuit filed by Derek Dixon, an actor from his BET drama series The Oval.
Naija News reports that Dixon, who played the character Dale, alleged that Perry blurred professional boundaries and subjected him to harassment that left him living in fear for his career.
In his first on-camera interview with ABC News on September 9, 2025, Dixon recounted disturbing encounters he claims occurred at Perry’s Atlanta residence.
“He pulled down my underwear and grabbed my buttocks,” Dixon alleged.
“I was under constant stress, scared I’d lose my job or be killed off the show if I didn’t comply.”
Dixon, who joined Perry’s productions in 2020, said the lawsuit seeks to capture both his financial losses and to act as a deterrent.
“Part of that number is my lost job, my lost income, the loss of a show. The other part of that is a deterrent for how do you stop a billionaire who won’t stop themselves from doing this,” he said.
Beyond harassment allegations, Dixon accused Perry of failing to follow through on a promise to produce a pilot he wrote. He claimed Perry not only abandoned the deal but still controls the rights to the work.
“Never exploit someone’s aspirations to coerce them into a relationship. That’s unprofessional,” Dixon said, explaining that his decision to go public was meant “to protect future generations of actors and creatives.”
Perry, who has built one of Hollywood’s most successful independent studios, has strongly denied the claims.
His attorney, Matthew Boyd, dismissed the lawsuit as baseless, describing Dixon as “an individual who got close to Tyler Perry for what now appears to be an elaborate scam.”
“Tyler will not be coerced, and we are confident that these unfounded harassment claims will not succeed,” Boyd said.
Dixon first filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in January 2024 before leaving The Oval later that year. His lawsuit, filed in June 2025, has since intensified debates about power dynamics, workplace harassment, and accountability in Hollywood.
So far, Dixon remains the only publicly identified accuser, while Perry has continued to deny all allegations.
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