In his first televised interview about his accusations against Tyler Perry, screenwriter and actor Derek Dixon told ABC News that he is seeking “accountability.”
In June, filed a $260 million lawsuit against Perry alleging years of sexual harassment, including promises of career advancement and acts of retaliation when Dixon didn’t accept Perry’s advances.
Perry, through his attorney, has strenuously denied the accusations.
“This is an individual who got close to Tyler Perry for what now appears to be nothing more than setting up a scam. But Tyler will not be shaken down and we are confident these fabricated claims of harassment will fail,” Matthew Boyd, attorney for Perry and his TPS Production Services, LLC, said at the time.
Speaking to ABC News’ Linsey Davis, Dixon discussed the alleged acts he previously described in his lawsuit. This included an incident in which, according to Dixon, Perry jumped in bed with him one night when he was staying in the billionaire entertainment powerhouse’s guest room. He also discussed some of the text messages previously referenced in the lawsuit, and other events.
Asked why he filed the lawsuit and is speaking publicly about it, he told Davis, “I wanted to speak out and not stay silent about it anymore.”
Dixon was a series regular on Perry’s BET show “The Oval,” who was shot in the season 2 finale. The actor told Davis he felt this was in retaliation for not returning Perry’s advances, and that he feared, “if I don’t make him happy, I could stay dead on the show.”
“For me, that was his way of showing his power over over us and our careers, and that he doesn’t have a problem with just killing one of us off,” Dixon also said.
Dixon described another incident in which he said Perry pressured him to take his clothes off and made repeated advances, then the next morning called to apologize. Perry, Dixon said, then told him he would produce a television pilot Dixon had written. According to Dixon, Perry has the rights to that proposed show now.
Davis at one point asked Dixon about a letter Perry’s attorney says he sent demanding $40 million, which Dixon admitted.
“I think I was looking for accountability on to what he did. I think what he did was was wrong, and it needed to be something that would deter him from doing this to somebody else, another actor,” Dixon said about it.
Saying later that at one point he was getting nearly constant calls and texts from Perry, Dixon said he was in “just this constant state of like, if I don’t answer, I will lose my job. I’ll be fired or killed off… it took a huge toll on my anxiety and depression.”
When asked what the $260 million his lawsuit seeks is for, Dixon replied, “that number is my lost job, my lost income, the loss of the show. The other part of that is a deterrent for, you know, how do you stop a billionaire who won’t stop themselves from doing from doing this?”
Asked what he would say if he was to speak to Perry in person, Dixon replied, “I would say, I hope that you take accountability for what happened, and I hope that this has taught you not to treat your employees this way and to never use someone’s dream to coerce them into a relationship that’s not professional.”
Watch the interview below:
