Accuser Suing Tyler Perry for Sexual Assault and Harassment Breaks His Silence

A month after the news of the headline-making lawsuit for sexual harassment and assault against Tyler Perry hit the internet, the media mogul’s accuser, Derek Dixon, is breaking his silence.

As we reported, Dixon, an actor on Perry’s popular White House drama “The Oval,” accused Perry of sexual assault, sexual harassment, and retaliation in a bombshell $260 million lawsuit filed June 13 in Los Angeles Superior Court. Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Dixon explained that he “couldn’t just let him get away with this.”

First Meeting Perry and ‘The Oval’

Dixon details his history with Perry in the interview, from first meeting the producer (Perry allegedly “singled him out” in a crowd of event staff for the opening night party for Tyler Perry Studios), to Perry eventually offering him a minor role of Dale on “Ruthless,” allegedly promising that it was a small role that could “get bigger.”

“Everyone deserves to go to work and do their job without their boss trying to have sex with them,” Dixon told the outlet, saying that his goal with coming forward is, “to help ensure that the next generation of actors and creatives don’t have to choose between their dreams and their dignity.”

Accusations

Dixon, who is an openly gay man, made it clear in the interview that he was “not going to speak for Perry” on how he identifies sexually. “Regardless of his sexual orientation or gender, 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.”

Dixon detailed one night in January 2020, when Perry allegedly invited Dixon to his home, where the two drank alcohol. Dixon alleges the writer told him he was too inebriated to drive, offered for him to stay in his guest house. He then says that while he was in the guest house, Perry, “climbed into bed with me and began rubbing my thigh. I immediately jumped out of the bed and said, ‘I’m not that sexual’ and stood up until he left the room. I thought that my reaction made it clear that night that I was not interested.”

Text Messages

Perry allegedly called or texted Dixon every day after that interaction, and quickly his minor role of Dale was bumped up to a recurring role on the “Ruthless” spinoff, “The Oval.”

“It was always personal and almost never about business,” Dixon said of the text exchanges, which became even more frequent when his role was bumped up. “He would say ‘send pics’ of what I was doing or ask to see a photo shoot that I just did.”

Around this time, Perry also agreed to shoot a comedy pilot that Dixon wrote, another instance where the media mogul exerted his power over Dixon’s career. For a while, Dixon explained that they maintained a friendly relationship, and that there were many times he was around Perry and “nothing” would happen. “So I thought he got the picture, and that created a false sense of security,” he explained.

“I now realize I let my gratefulness for what he’d done for me cloud my self-respect.” Dixon also alleges that in Perry’s text messages, he would seem to get angry if Dixon did not respond. “Don’t you dare ignore me. I deserve better. I deserve attention all the time,” one text in the complaint reads.

More Accusations

Dixon breaks down multiple alleged inappropriate instances in the story, including one moment where he went into Tyler’s trailer for a drink, saying in the interview that he “knew” he had to go. “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.”

He claims that Perry was asking him uncomfortable questions in this moment, and Dixon kept “deflecting” by telling him that he was not “sexual” or “looking for anything.” Dixon claims that Perry allegedly pushed him “against the wall and grabbed his buttocks.”

Dixon also detailed going to Perry’s home in June of 2021 to discuss his pilot, in an instance where Dixon believed he was going to be raped. “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,” Dixon explained to the outlet when detailing the allegation in his complaint. “When I tried to pull my underwear back up, he grabbed my wrists to keep me from putting them back on. I couldn’t believe what was happening.”

Dixon explained that he told him “‘No,’ ‘Stop,’ and ‘I don’t want this … but he wasn’t stopping. He just told me to relax and let it happen and that he wasn’t going to hurt me.” Dixon allegedly deflected and was able to de-escalate, eventually locking himself in the bathroom of Perry’s guest house and sleeping there.

In a statement to People Magazine, Tyler Perry’s attorney, Matthew Boyd, addressed Dixon’s Hollywood Reporter interview. “This is an individual who got close to Tyler Perry for what now appears to be nothing more than setting up a scam,” the statement reads. “But Tyler will not be shaken down and we are confident these fabricated claims of harassment will fail.”