Tyler Perry Accuser: Actors Should Be Able to 'Do Their Job Without Their Boss Trying to Have Sex with Them'

The man whose lawsuit claims Tyler Perry harassed, assaulted, and retaliated against him talked about his "terrifying" choice to speak up. Perry's lawyer calls the allegations "a scam," according to The Hollywood Reporter.

THR detailed that Derek Dixon, "an actor in his late 30s who appeared in 85 episodes of Perry's BET series 'The Oval'... alleges in the lawsuit that Perry made several unwanted sexual advances toward him, including one in which the producer pinned him against a wall and groped him and another in which Perry snuck into his bed."

Moreover, "Dixon has accused Perry of engaging in a pattern of exploiting male actors in his productions and using his power in the entertainment industry to harass employees."

Speaking to his motivation for speaking out, Dixon declared, "Everyone deserves to go to work and do their job without their boss trying to have sex with them."

"My goal is to help ensure that the next generation of actors and creatives don't have to choose between their dreams and their dignity," the actor went on to say.

THR asked Dixon about his claims in an exchange of emails, with Dixon recounting that he met Perry in 2019 and the writer-director seemed to take an interest in him, asking about his career ambitions.

Perry eventually cast Dixon in a spinoff of "The Oval" called "Ruthless," "telling him it was a small role that could get a lot bigger," THR recounted. In 2020, Perry "announce[d] on Instagram that he and his longtime girlfriend, Gelila Bekele, with whom he shares a now 10-year-old son, had broken up."

Dixon, who is out, told THR that he "did not know that Perry was interested in men or that he was looking for a sexual relationship," the writeup relayed. "Regardless of his sexual orientation or gender," Dixon went on to add, "he should not be speaking to any of his employees whether they be men or women, gay, straight or bisexual about their sexual preferences, how often they're having sex and physically assaulting them."

The actor described an occasion in early 2020 when, he claims, he and Perry had drinks at Perry's home in Georgia. Perry invited Dixon to sleep in the guest house, but then "climbed into bed with me and began rubbing my thigh," Dixon told the entertainment news magazine.

"I immediately jumped out of the bed and said, 'I'm not that sexual' and stood up until he left the room," Dixon continued. "I thought that my reaction made it clear that night that I was not interested."

Subsequent to that, Dixon claims, Perry described possible paths for Dixon's "Ruthless" character – to start making appearances on "The Oval" that would culminate in the character's death, or, alternatively, for the character to survive a season-ending crisis and continue on the show.

"He said that if I did a good job, I'd probably survive," Dixon recalled of a phone call when they allegedly discussed his character's future – and Dixon's prospects for continued employment.

"On this same call, Dixon says, Perry also told him that 'nobody gives him anything,'" THR relayed.

"He gives and gives, nobody ever gives back," Dixon summarized Perry saying. "I remember feeling my stomach drop when he said this. I knew that I couldn't piss him off or my character could easily just stay dead."

Perry began inundating Dixon with text messages of a personal nature, the actor claimed, and during COVID encouraged Dixon to write a TV pilot. A writer as well as actor, Dixon did so and then showed Perry what he had come up with. The response, Dixon said, was encouraging: "He called me and told me that it was hilarious, and he loved it and wanted to shoot the pilot for it."

Dixon told THR that a combination of "excitement about his career," "fear of Perry's power," and naïveté from a lack of experience "led him to ignore certain warning signs," the site recounted.

"I now realize I let my gratefulness for what he'd done for me cloud my self-respect," Dixon said.

Then the mogul invited him to share a drink again, and "I knew I had to," the actor told THR, explaining, "We all were living at Tyler Perry Studios, working for Tyler Perry – who was the producer, writer, and director – and I understood that you do what Tyler Perry says, and you go where he demands."

"I felt like if you were invited and you cared at all about your career and staying on the show, you couldn't say no."

That occasion took a turn for the inappropriate, Dixon alleged, when "Perry began asking uncomfortable questions, including whether Dixon was attracted to him," THR shared.

Dixon attempted "to deflect Perry's interest," the account said, but when Dixon went to leave, "Perry pushed him against the wall and grabbed his buttocks," the actor claims.

"After he would do things like that, he would say things like, 'We need to just be business. We need to just be professional,'" Dixon told the outlet, "and I would think, 'Great. Yes.' Every time I thought it would stop."

But, Dixon maintains, it did not stop; rather, the unwanted sexual attention from Perry only got worse, "with Perry often sending messages while drunk and seeming to get angry when Dixon didn't answer," THR recounted. Examples included in Dixon's complaint consisted of a text that Perry allegedly sent the actor that reads, "Don't you dare ignore me. I deserve better. I deserve attention all the time." Another text asks, "What's it going to take for you to have guiltless sex?" The alleged harassment caused the actor so much distress that he ended up taking Zoloft and experiencing physical symptoms.

Eventually, "Perry lashed out at Dixon on set, the complaint alleges, asking if he needed to 'punch [Dixon] in the stomach' for Dixon to deliver the performance he wanted," THR recounted.

A second night of drinking at Perry's house led to another invitation for Dixon to sleep in the guest house; this time, though, the actor's complaint alleges, "He told me to give him a goodnight hug and as I did, he abruptly and forcefully pulled down my underwear and groped my bare ass."

"When I tried to pull my underwear back up, he grabbed my wrists to keep me from putting them back on," the complaint adds. "I couldn't believe what was happening." Fearing he would be sexually assaulted, the actor coaxed Perry to get a pizza, the THR writeup detailed, after which Dixon "returned to the guest house, locked himself in the bathroom and fell asleep on the floor."

That's when he sought legal advice – but what he heard (from a lawyer different than his current representation) was less than empowering: "he'd need to quit 'The Oval' if he was going to file a complaint," THR summarized.

"All those years of trying to be an actor would just go up in smoke," Dixon explained. "I was too afraid to come forward," he went on to add. "I knew it would be awful. And I was right."

Indeed, having spoken out, Dixon says he now faces a barrage of "online threats and harassment" amidst supportive messages, and even claims from others of similar treatment from Perry. "This is why people, especially men, don't come forward," Dixon told THR.

Still, he feels it was necessary for him to make his allegations known. "I was an employee, and he was my boss," the actor told THR. "The fact that I'm an actor doesn't make me any less an employee."

"For a long time, I convinced myself that it was part of the industry, or that somehow I had to accept it to keep working. But eventually, I couldn't stay silent anymore."

People Magazine detailed that "According to the complaint, Dixon is suing Perry for quid pro quo sexual harassment, sexual battery, sexual assault, intentional infliction of emotional distress, retaliation and more."

"Dixon is requesting a jury trial and damages of $260 million."