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Tyler Perry dismisses sexual abuse lawsuit as a ‘shakedown’

todayJune 18, 2025 187

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Tyler Perry’s legal team has rejected the sexual assault charges filed against the filmmaker as a “shakedown”.
Fellow American actor and screenwriter, Derek Dixon, has launched a $260 million lawsuit against Perry.
Perry’s lawyer, Matthew Boyd, says Dixon is an individual who got close to the actor and playwright for what now appears to be nothing more than setting up a scam.
Dixon says he met Perry at the opening party of his studio in Atlanta in 2019, before landing a role on the filmmaker’s show, Ruthless.
Dixon alleges that the filmmaker repeatedly made unwanted advances and created a coercive, sexually exploitative environment while they worked on the BET drama series.
The actor claims that Perry offered him a prominent role on the show as his sexual advances became more aggressive.
He alleges that the screenwriter, producer, and director controlled his employment, compensation and creative opportunities. Dixon accuses Perry of threatening to kill his career should he reject his advances.
In the lawsuit filed last week, Perry is accused of having “a troubling pattern of exploiting vulnerable male actors and employees”.
Perry’s lawyer has dismissed the allegations as fabricated, saying he is confident that the harassment claims will fail.
The lawsuit comes as Perry busks in the record-breaking success of his latest film, Straw, which has garnered the highest Netflix viewership for a movie in a single week.

 

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Written by: Lindiwe Mpanza

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