A second actor has sued the filmmaker and media mogul Tyler Perry, accusing him of sexual assault and seeking $77 million in damages, according to a complaint filed Thursday in the Los Angeles Superior Court.
In the lawsuit, which also names the production company Lionsgate as a defendant, the actor, Mario Rodriguez, said he was subjected to multiple instances of sexual assault at Mr. Perry’s Los Angeles home.
Mr. Rodriguez had a small role in the 2016 comedy “Boo! A Madea Halloween,” a movie that Mr. Perry directed and starred in. Mr. Rodriguez told Mr. Perry that he had never acted before auditioning to get that part, according to the lawsuit.
According to the complaint, Mr. Rodriguez was approached by a trainer at a Los Angeles Equinox gym in 2015 about meeting with Mr. Perry about a possible acting role as a “very good-looking college student” in a new movie that later became “Boo! A Madea Halloween.”
In the years that followed, Mr. Rodriguez said Mr. Perry subjected him to several unwanted sexual advances.
Among the instances, the complaint details two that took place between 2018 and 2019 in which Mr. Rodriguez said Mr. Perry apologized for unwanted sexual advances and stuffed $5,000 in his pocket on both occasions before he left.
This is the second such lawsuit filed against Mr. Perry this year.
In June, the actor Derek Dixon, who appeared in Mr. Perry’s television series “The Oval,” sued him for $260 million.
Mr. Dixon claimed that Mr. Perry subjected him to “escalating sexual harassment, assault and battery, and professional retaliation when Mr. Dixon did not reciprocate Mr. Perry’s unwanted advances,” according to the lawsuit.
The lawyer representing Mr. Perry in that case, Matthew Boyd, said the lawsuit was without merit, calling it a “scam.”
Both Mr. Dixon and Mr. Rodriguez are being represented by the same lawyer, Jonathan Delshad.
Alex Spiro, a lawyer representing Mr. Perry in the most recent lawsuit, said in a statement that “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.”
Mr. Spiro added that his client had yet to be served. Lionsgate did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Saturday.
Mr. Perry has written and directed plays, movies and television shows depicting Black life in America, including the “Madea” series, in which he also stars.
In 2019, he opened a 330-acre studio complex in Atlanta, where productions like “Black Panther” and “The Walking Dead” have been filmed.
Francesca Regalado is a Times reporter covering breaking news.
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