{"id":145674,"date":"2025-09-10T04:05:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-10T04:05:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/145674\/"},"modified":"2025-09-10T04:05:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T04:05:07","slug":"tyler-perry-accuser-does-tv-interview-on-sexual-assault-allegations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/145674\/","title":{"rendered":"Tyler Perry Accuser Does TV Interview on Sexual Assault Allegations"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tDerek Dixon<\/a>, an actor suing Tyler Perry<\/a> for sexual assault and harassment, appeared for an interview on ABC News on Tuesday to detail his allegations against the entertainment mogul. Dixon <\/a>says he was exploited by Perry while starring on the producer\u2019s BET series \u201cThe Oval.\u201d Perry\u2019s lawyers have issued statements denying the claims.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the interview with ABC News\u2019<\/a> Linsey Davis, Dixon detailed an alleged incident included in the lawsuit, in which he says Perry \u201cpulled my underwear down and grabbed my ass\u201d after a night drinking at Perry\u2019s residence in Atlanta.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe were both walking back to the guest area, where I\u2019d stayed before, and there\u2019s this health monitor scale on the way. I was like, \u2018What is that?\u2019 And he said, \u2018Well you have to be in your underwear to measure.\u2019 \u2026 He reached down and pulled my underwear down and grabbed my ass and I tried to stop him and pull back my underwear up,\u201d Dixon said in the interview. \u201cHe kind of grabbed my arms and said, \u2018No no no, it\u2019s okay. Just go with it.\u2019 And I said, \u2018Stop, I don\u2019t want to be naked. I don\u2019t want this.\u2019 And he said, \u2018I\u2019m not going to hurt you.’\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cUnless someone\u2019s been through something where they have their control over their body taken away, you don\u2019t really understand the kind of feelings that you get in that moment,\u201d Dixon continued. \u201cEvery thought came into my head: to run, to fight, to freeze. I didn\u2019t know what to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe evening allegedly ended with Dixon locking himself in the guest house bathroom. He says Perry called to apologize the following day. Dixon says that, prior to the incident, he had stayed at Perry\u2019s guest house on a prior evening, on which Perry allegedly \u201cclimbed into bed\u201d with him and \u201cstarted rubbing my leg.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI jumped up out of bed. He said, \u2018Turn around so I can look at you,\u2019 and just commented on how I looked. And he got up and left,\u201d Dixon told Davis. \u201cI thought after that instance, it was pretty clear that I was not interested in that type of a relationship. \u2026 It\u2019s okay that people try to make a move or shoot their shot, but if they get rejected I think that they should stop. I thought it would stop after that and it didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tDixon also says that Perry had sent him numerous texts with sexual connotations. As in his lawsuit, Dixon says he feared professional retaliation if he ignored Perry\u2019s messages. In a Season 2 episode of \u201cThe Oval,\u201d Dixon\u2019s character is shot multiple times \u2014\u00a0a scripting decision that Dixon took as, \u201cIf I don\u2019t make him happy, I could stay dead on the show.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cFor me, that was his way of showing power over us and our careers,\u201d Dixon said. \u201cI was extremely anxious. The calls and texts were almost everyday. This constant state of, \u2018If I don\u2019t answer, I will lose my job. I will be fired or killed off the show.\u2019 It took a huge toll on my anxiety and depression.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tDixon left the show in September 2024. His lawsuit against Perry was filed in June. Dixon seeks $260 million in punitive damages from Perry.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cPart of that number is my lost job \u2014 my lost income, the loss of the show. The other part of that is a deterrent of how to stop a billionaire who won\u2019t stop himself from doing this,\u201d Dixon said. \u201cI hope you take accountability for what happened and I hope this has taught you not to treat your employees this way. Never use someone\u2019s dream to coerce them into a relationship. That\u2019s not professional.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn both the lawsuit and the interview, Dixon also says that Perry agreed to produce a pilot that he wrote, for a show titled \u201cLosing It.\u201d Perry allegedly still owns the rights.<\/p>\n

\n\tPerry\u2019s lawyers had no comment on Dixon\u2019s interview. After the suit was filed, they denied Dixon\u2019s allegations, characterizing the lawsuit as a \u201cshakedown.\u201d In a statement to press after the filing, Perry\u2019s attorney Matthew Boyd wrote, \u201cThis is an individual who got close to Tyler Perry<\/a> 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.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Derek Dixon, an actor suing Tyler Perry for sexual assault and harassment, appeared for an interview on ABC…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":145675,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[2815,88,2814],"class_list":{"0":"post-145674","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-derek-dixon","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-tyler-perry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145674"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145674\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}