Tyler Perry to fight new sexual assault allegations

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0:47Derek Dixon:Hello and welcome back to Fame Under Fire with me, Amber Hag. I spend a lot of time looking at that intersection between celebrity culture, allegations of crime, how fame, money and influence can sometimes complicate accountability. And today's episode is going to be no different because this case involves another Hollywood figure, someone who isn't just an actor, but a filmmaker, a studio owner and a billionaire, Tyler Perry. We're going to be hearing more about his career shortly, but he is being sued by two of his former employees in two separate civil lawsuits, both alleging sexual misconduct and abuse of power.

1:36Derek Dixon:Now, Tyler Perry strongly denies these allegations. One of those lawsuits goes even further, explicitly likening Tyler Perry to convicted sexual offenders like Harvey Weinstein, R. Kelly and Sean Diddy Combs. In response, Tyler Perry's lawyers have said that both of these lawsuits, they are completely false, that they are, quote, cash grabs and just attempts to extract money from Tyler Perry. So after the first lawsuit was filed in June 2025, Perry's lawyers described it as a scam. They told the BBC that Tyler Perry would not be shaken down and that these claims were fabricated. So it is safe to say that there is so much to get stuck into for us.

2:27Derek Dixon:And I'm going to go through all of this with attorney and legal analyst Terry Austin. She's joining us from New York. You may actually even recognise Terry from Fame Underfire's sister podcast covering the Mangione trial. You can listen to that on BBC Sounds, wherever you get your podcasts. It's an amazing listen. Terry, welcome to Fame Under Fire. How are you? Thank you, Amber. It's great to be here. I'm doing well. Terry, I want to talk to you about these lawsuits against Tyler Perry. But for anyone who doesn't recognize the name, who Tyler Perry actually is, let's just go through why he holds so much weight

3:06Tyler Perry:in Hollywood. Tyler Perry is one of the largest producers and directors in Hollywood. And obviously he's an actor too. He has a huge studio out in California and Los Angeles, and he currently has a thousand people employed. He's gotten awards. He's very well known in the entertainment industry. And he's probably next to Oprah, one of the most popular people in the United States as far as entertainers are concerned. So everyone knows his name.

3:36Derek Dixon:And people listening may also know him as the man who paid for Prince Harry and Meghan's security when they first moved over to the US. He even let them stay in his home. But this context about Tyler Perry's wealth, his power, his fame matters when it comes to the lawsuit. So there's two different ones that have been filed against Tyler Perry, right? Let's dig into the first one. This is involving an actor called Derek Dixon. What does he allege?

4:05Tyler Perry:It's interesting because Derek Dixon filed a lawsuit and he's claiming so many things. He's claiming quid pro quo sexual harassment, which is sexual harassment, but it's in the employment arena. He has about 10 different causes of action, workplace environment, harassment. He's got gender violence. He's got, You know, sexual battery, sexual assault. He's talking about retaliation. So it's a huge complaint. It's 46 pages long and he's asking for$260 million. So he is making some very serious allegations against Tyler Perry. So far, we've seen that Tyler Perry has denied the allegations. He has responded to the complaint and he has denied everything.

4:52Tyler Perry:What is a quid pro quo sexual assault? So quid pro quo is when you have an individual who has authority and position over an employee and he uses that control, that power to gain some sexual advancements. And he threatens or retaliates against the employee in exchange for that sexual behavior. And so this is the context where the law has said, no, you cannot do that. Obviously, if you want to have a relationship with someone outside of the employment arena, fine. But when you're in the employment arena, you have a duty and a responsibility to your employees to provide a safe work environment. And once you cross that line, once you make these advancements towards your employees, or even if it's just verbal, it doesn't have to be physical, then you've created a hostile environment and you have this sort of quid pro quo sexual harassment.

5:58Derek Dixon:And I think the nature in which Dixon and Tyler Perry came into contact is quite interesting because Derek Dixon goes on to play a role in a show called The Oval, which is something that Tyler produced. Just talk to us about that backdrop, why it matters in terms of the fact that they actually worked together.

6:18Tyler Perry:Well, Dixon actually met Perry in the Atlanta studio. Dixon was actually working at an event. And Dixon is claiming that Perry came up to him and they exchanged phone numbers and that he was offered a role, as you mentioned, Amber, on the Oval. And Dixon actually played in multiple episodes, I think about 25 episodes. And that was back in 2019. So he's claiming these series of sexual advancements from 2019. He's basically saying that while he was working for Tyler Perry, he felt like he could not do anything other than respond to Tyler Perry. and he felt as though he was going to lose his job.

7:03And as a matter of fact, the character that he played,

7:07Tyler Perry:he played a character named Dale. The character that he played was shot four times in one of the episodes. And Dixon is claiming that Tyler Perry held that over his head and basically made him feel as though if Dixon didn't respond to Tyler's sexual advances, that the character would be killed off. So that's where you get the quid pro quo.

7:29Derek Dixon:And can we break down some of these allegations even more? Because Dixon alleges that there was an incident where Tyler Perry invited him over to his home, right?

7:39Tyler Perry:Yes, that's exactly right. And he's claiming that there was some touching involved. And he's also saying that he never responded to this, that he tried to tell Tyler Perry, no, back off. No, thank you. I don't want to be involved. He's claiming that there was touching on the body and that he rejected those advancements. So it's a pretty serious complaint. It's the physical touching. It's the approaching, even though he's telling Tyler Perry no. As a matter of fact, there's a text that says, listen, Dixon, you're going to have to learn how to say no a little harsher. And it's almost like Tyler Perry is trying to defend himself and basically say he thought that Dixon wanted these advancements as well.

8:29Tyler Perry:So I think once we get a look at all of the communications between these two, we're going to be able to determine whether or not this was consensual or whether or not, in fact, Dixon was trying hard to push Perry off and Perry kept advancing. So if, in fact, all of these text messages are admitted into court and the jury hears this, they're going to be able to determine whether or not this was inappropriate behavior.

8:55Derek Dixon:Is there anything within the messages, the emails, that shows Derek Dixon encouraging Tyler Perry, having an intimate relationship with him?

9:05Tyler Perry:Well, I think what we're seeing is more the opposite of that. It's a little bit more of Tyler Perry advancing towards Dixon. It's him saying, how do I look in this photo? There's one picture of Tyler Perry. You know, you can see some of his muscles and his body. And he's actually encouraging Dixon to say, well, what do I look like? And Dixon says something in one of the text messages about, oh, you know, great picture, great photo, meaning the backdrop, meaning the war, meaning the geography. And Tyler Perry comes back and he says something to the effect of, no, what about how I look? And you do see Dixon saying, oh, OK, you look great.

9:50Tyler Perry:And one of the explanations for that that we're seeing in the press, Dara Dixon says, yeah, well, look, I did respond because I wanted to keep my job. I didn't want my car to be killed off. And so he's trying to explain that he felt uncomfortable, that he thought he had to do this, and that there would be retaliation if, in fact, he didn't. So that's how he explains the responses to these text messages.

10:16Derek Dixon:And on another point that Alex Spiro, Perry's team could push back on is these pictures that you talked about, these underwear pictures. They could, of course, be interpreted in a very different way by his team. Yes.

10:30Tyler Perry:I mean, we're talking about the Derek Dixon case here where we see these photos and the photos are provocative. And I think Tyler Perry initiates those contacts and Derek Dixon, you know, sort of responds and says, oh, yeah, you look great. But the explanation by Derek Dixon is that, look, I said what I had to say. I was trying to keep my job. I didn't mean it. And those are not any sort of responses that I would have done. And I did it because I wanted to keep my job.

11:07Derek Dixon:Yeah, so those are some of the details in that first lawsuit involving Derek Dixon. Just a few months later, I noticed this interesting timing around the Christmas break. There was another filed involving another actor, a man called Mario Rodriguez. Just talk us through how does that case compare? What is being alleged by Mario Rodriguez against Tyler Perry?

11:30Tyler Perry:Well, Rodriguez filed a complaint, as you mentioned, during the holiday season. And it was not only during the holiday season. He filed it on Christmas Day, December 25th. I think that sends sort of a message. It is very similar to the Dixon complaint. It's a little less as far as volume is concerned. Dixon's complaint is 46 pages. This complaint by Rodriguez is only 23 pages. It's not as many allegations, but it's a copycat complaint. And it is actually by the same attorney. Jonathan Delshat is his name. And it's interesting because he is making these complaints that there was some sort of sexual harassment.

12:13Tyler Perry:He doesn't claim quid pro quo per se. He's saying that there was sexual assault, there was sexual battery. He's claiming that he has this emotional distress. But it is interesting because Rodriguez was only in one episode of a movie. And it was a very small role in that movie. It was a Halloween movie. It was called Boo, Medea Halloween. And he had a small role in that. So it's not quite the same as Derek Dixon, who had a more prolonged experience and employment with Tyler Perry. So I think it's going to be somewhat different. What we've seen so far from Mario Rodriguez is a series of text messages, but the text messages are very different from Dixon's.

13:02Tyler Perry:It's really Rodriguez who's reaching out to Tyler Perry. And he's basically saying, look, I really, really appreciate how helpful you've been. I'm indebted to you. And there's another series of text messages where he's saying, look, I'm in financial distress. And again, we see the attorney for Tyler Perry saying, this is all made up. There's nothing here. It's smoke and mirrors. He's just trying to get$77 million, which also, in my opinion, Amber, is a very strange number. 77. Where did you get that?

13:38Derek Dixon:There's been a lot of talk online about these text messages, that there was exchanges after the allegations of abuse had taken place. I just wondered when people hear text messages like that, appearing friendly, polite, even grateful to someone who they allege is an abuser, how do the courts actually interpret that kind of evidence?

14:01Tyler Perry:It's interesting because there are two sides to that. The court and the jury, because both of these are going to be jury trials if they get to that point. Look at those text messages subsequent to the event. The court might think, why did it take so long for you to respond to this and file a complaint when, in fact, you have these text messages which are very positive? You didn't say anything negative in these text messages. So they're going to look at that and think that this could be something that was made up. And so it does not help the case that he has these text messages long after the fact where he's reaching out to Tyler Perry.

14:45Tyler Perry:So I think it's going to hurt the case that Rodriguez has brought. I think the jury is going to say this is kind of hard to believe that you never said anything about the harassment earlier.

14:57Derek Dixon:Something that jumped out to me, actually, in terms of language as well across both of the lawsuits is they include a claim called intentional infliction of emotional distress. What does this actually mean, Terry?

15:11Tyler Perry:You have to show that it was intentional on the part of the defendant that Tyler Perry intentionally caused this emotional distress. And it has to be severe emotional distress and severe actions that were taken against the plaintiff. So it's not, well, I'm sorry, you yelled at me and now I'm really distressed. You literally have to show that you went to a doctor, that you were treated and these are the bills and I had this diagnosis. So it's a very good claim for a plane to bring, but it is a claim that you have to substantiate.

15:51Derek Dixon:We did approach Tyler Perry's lawyers, including Alex Spirrow. You may recognize his name. He's also Jay-Z and Alec Baldwin's lawyer for Common. They didn't get back, but according to Deadline and the LA Times, Alex Spirrow has made a statement. He said, having recently failed in another matter against Mr. Perry, the very same lawyer has now made yet another demand from more than a decade ago, which will also be a failed money grab. Why is he saying having recently failed in another matter against Tyler Perry?

16:25Tyler Perry:It's interesting because I think Alex Spiro is playing this out in the media and he is trying to make it seem as though Jonathan DeShield has lost in the past. Technically, that case against Perry was not lost. I think what he meant is these are losing cases. This lawyer is just looking for people to bring cases against Tyler Perry. But I think what Alex Biro is trying to do is to say that this is bogus, that you have an attorney who is just trying to make money off of Tyler Perry. He is looking for plaintiffs. He had a plaintiff with Derek Dixon, and now he has a plaintiff with Mario Rodriguez.

17:09Tyler Perry:Rodriguez, if anything else comes up, they're all going to be losing cases. And this is just a money grab. But technically, the Derek Dixon case is alive and thriving in Georgia. And the Mario Rodriguez case is now in California. And I think Tyler Perry is going to fight this vigorously.

17:26Derek Dixon:And we also approach the lawyer who is representing both of these men for a comment that Jonathan Del Shard, he may sound familiar again, he is also the lawyer for Will Smith's accuser, Brian King Joseph. You can go back and listen to our program if you want a breakdown of that case, but he's told Fame Under Fire, we believe the text messages explain the story. Perry's legal team has not denied any of the text messages or a relationship with my clients. They are trying to position Dixon's case to be dismissed based on procedural issues because they are concerned about the substance of the claims and what other evidence will come out.

18:06Derek Dixon:We have a feeling there might be significant other lawsuits that will follow. Of course, Jonathan is entitled to give us a statement, but just to be clear, this is just his opinion. So Terry, how do you think Tyler Perry can defend himself against these lawsuits?

18:25Tyler Perry:I think that in both of these cases by Derek Dixon and Mario Rodriguez, the defense is going to be it didn't happen. That was not what happened when they were in my studio. That is not what happened when they were in my home. I didn't do this. I didn't approach them. And he's going to try to explain those text messages in both cases. I think the Derek Dixon text messages are going to be a little more difficult. And I do think you might see a settlement in that case. The Mario Rodriguez case, those text messages don't seem, as far as we know right now, as though Tyler Perry is trying to approach Rodriguez in any way or trying to utilize his position to have some sexual favors for Tyler Perry.

19:15Derek Dixon:I wondered, in this case, could both of these men appear as corroborating witnesses in each other's trials? They could, but I think the

19:25Tyler Perry:judge would probably exclude that unless one of them was a witness physically to seeing what was going on. So the judge has to instruct the jury in these types of cases that you're going to make your decision what happened in this case based on the evidence brought in this case and based on the law in this case. So what might have happened before with Derek Dixon technically isn't going to have an effect on the Mario Rodriguez case. Now, I mean, I expect from an evidentiary standpoint that the judge is going to say, only consider what happened here. But if in fact, Derek Dixon was in the same room or in the same studio that Rodriguez was in, that could be allowed.

20:10Tyler Perry:Obviously, if there are witnesses to the sexual harassment, they heard something, they saw something, They were involved in an incident that will definitely be admitted in court. But so far, based on the allegations and the complaint, I don't see that the two of them cross paths per se. If they did, then that could be very relevant.

20:31Derek Dixon:Stepping back from the headlines and the noise for a second, Terry, from a legal perspective, how strong do you think that these lawsuits appear at this stage that we're at now?