Tyler Perry has been accused of sexual assault in the second lawsuit this year from an aspiring actor who says the director used his power in Hollywood to take advantage of young men who want to star in his movies.
Both lawsuits were filed by the same Los Angeles lawyer, Jonathan J. Delshad, in what a lawyer for Perry has called “a money grab.”
Mario Rodriguez, a model whose first role on film was in Perry’s “Boo! A Madea Halloween,” has accused the director and entertainment mogul of multiple incidents of sexual assault at Perry’s Los Angeles home over the course of years. According to a complaint, obtained by The Washington Post and filed Thursday in the Superior Court of California in Los Angeles, Rodriguez is seeking $77 million in punitive damages.
Alex Spiro, a lawyer for Perry, denied the allegations in a statement to The Post: “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.” The Hollywood Reporter first reported on the lawsuit.
According to the complaint, which also names production company Lionsgate as a defendant, Perry subjected Rodriguez to numerous unwanted sexual advances, including a time in 2018 when Perry unbuckled Rodriguez’s pants, grabbed his genitals and “kept holding [Rodriguez] and pressing his body against [him].”
Another time that year or in early 2019, the complaint alleges, Perry invited Rodriguez over to watch a football game and placed Rodriguez’s hand on Perry’s penis.
The complaint says that Rodriguez was first approached about meeting Perry in 2015 through a trainer at a Los Angeles Equinox gym where he worked out three or four days a week. That led to him being cast as “a very good-looking college student” in “A Madea Halloween,” and to a friendship that frequently crossed over into uncomfortable sexual situations, according to the lawsuit, which includes text messages it says the pair exchanged.
Throughout the years, Rodriguez alleges, Perry asked him personal questions about his traumas and continued to dangle the prospect of future roles that never materialized. After the two most severe instances of unwanted sexual touching, Rodriguez says, Perry apologized and stuffed $5,000 cash into his pocket before Rodriguez went home.
Lionsgate did not immediately return a request for comment.
The 56 year-old director was accused of sexual harassment, assault and retaliation by another actor, Derek Dixon, in June. Dixon, who worked with Perry for years, filed a 46-page lawsuit against him.
Dixon is also represented by Delshad, and Rodriguez says in his recent complaint that when he saw news of Dixon’s lawsuit, he immediately texted a friend who knew about his encounters with Perry. Rodriguez’s complaint says he “decided that it was time to tell his story, to obtain justice, and to finally stop Mr. Perry.”
In the June complaint, Dixon alleges that Perry created “a coercive, sexually exploitative dynamic” with Dixon while they worked on “The Oval,” a BET drama series produced by Perry.
Dixon’s complaint says that he met Perry in 2019 while working for an event company in Atlanta that was organizing a party for Perry’s studios. Eventually Perry offered Dixon the role of the character Dale in his show “Ruthless.” Then in 2020, months after Dixon took on that role, the lawsuit alleges, Perry invited the new actor to his home and sexually assaulted him while he was in the guest bedroom.
Perry later offered Dixon a role as a series regular on “The Oval.” Because the actor now relied on the producer for his livelihood, Dixon “continued to put up with” Perry’s advances over the course of several years working on the show, according to the lawsuit. Dixon’s lawsuit alleges that Perry assaulted him twice more in 2020, once in his trailer and once on a “cast trip” to Perry’s personal island in the Bahamas, and again the following year.
In June, Perry’s attorney, Matthew Boyd, denied any wrongdoing by Perry in a statement: “This is an individual who got close to Tyler Perry 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.”
In 2023, Dixon says he left “The Oval” in its final season to put distance between himself and Perry, giving up a payment of almost $400,000 in the process.
He is seeking $260 million in damages and a jury trial. Dixon’s lawsuit, originally filed in California state court, has been moved to a federal court in Georgia.
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