Tyler Perry Accuser Breaks Silence On Sexual Assault Allegations

Derek Dixon was excited when Tyler Perry offered him an audition for The Oval, the soapy White House drama airing on BET. But his excitement soon turned to disgust when he alleged that Perry victimized him with a pattern of sexual harassment, ultimately forcing him to quit the show.

In June, Dixon filed a $260M lawsuit against the mogul.

“I’m not going to speak for him on how he identifies sexually,” Dixon told THR. “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.”

In a wide-ranging interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Dixon says that he became friends with Perry after meeting him at an event in 2019.

Dixon was a struggling writer and actor in his late 30s when they met. He says the two exchanged texts that became more personal and that Perry ultimately invited him to audition for an Oval spinoff called Ruthless. He was cast on the show and was told that the role could expand over time.

Dixon is an openly gay man who says he had no idea that Perry might be interested in sex with men. But after accepting an invite to Perry’s home one night in January 2020, he says Perry asked him to stay overnight in his guest house after both men had several drinks. At that point, Dixon says Perry slipped into bed with him and started rubbing his thigh. He left only after Dixon told him he “wasn’t that sexual.”

Despite his lack of interest, Dixon says Perry continued to text him daily and then offered him an expanded role on The Oval, again saying it could get bigger in time. Dixon appeared in 85 episodes of The Oval from 2021 to 2025. He details a pattern of harassment that included Perry constantly texting him, sometimes with sexual innuendos and sometimes with outright sexually charged entreaties.

In another incident, Dixon says Perry had him come to his trailer for a drink, then pushed him against a wall and groped him. Dixon says that when he was invited back to Perry’s house for what he thought would be a discussion about his comedy pilot script, Perry assaulted him. He says he thought he would be raped, but held Perry off by saying he wanted something to eat.

Dixon claims that he feared being killed off on The Oval after his character was shot. Perry also delivered on his promise to shoot a pilot for his comedy script Losing It, but didn’t tell Dixon he’d have to hold off shopping it for two years because of restrictions related to his Viacom (BET) deal.

After moving to Los Angeles, Dixon filed an EEOC complaint and quit The Oval before his last season, despite being due $400K.

“I was an employee, and he was my boss,” Dixon says. “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.”

Dixon’s lawsuit came out after writer/director/actor Christian Keyes, who was in Saints & Sinners and says he created All The Queen’s Men, released a YouTube video in December 2023, alleging that he’d been abused by a “Black Hollywood billionaire.” While Keyes said he’d tell more of the story and potentially identify the person, nothing more has come of the cryptic allegations.

Dixon says he’s been contacted by others who’ve had similar interactions with Perry.

Dixon’s suit reads, in part, that Perry has “been using his power and influence to molest, abuse, and sexually assault impressionable and vulnerable employees and actors who look to him for guidance and mentorship while pursuing their dreams.”

Perry’s lawyers say the media mogul denies all allegations. In a statement provided to THR, Matthew Boyd describes Dixon as an “individual who got close to Tyler Perry for what now appears to be nothing more than setting up a scam.” He added, “Tyler will not be shaken down and we are confident these fabricated claims of harassment will fail.” 

See social media’s reaction to the original report below.

Tyler Perry Accuser Breaks Silence On Sexual Assault Allegations: “I Couldn’t Stay Silent Anymore”  was originally published on cassiuslife.com