Tyler Perry, the powerhouse media mogul behind dozens of films, plays, and the hit BET series The Oval, is now at the center of multiple sexual misconduct allegations that are sending shockwaves through the entertainment industry.
The most high-profile of these comes from Derek Dixon, an actor who appeared in over 80 episodes of The Oval. In June 2025, Dixon filed a $260 million lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court, accusing Perry of sexual assault, harassment, and coercion.
Dixon, who identifies as an out gay man, claims that Perry made several unwanted sexual advances toward him, including groping, pinning him against a wall, and sneaking into his bed uninvited. He alleges a pattern of predatory behavior, claiming that Perry exploited his position of power over male actors in his productions.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Dixon said, “Everyone deserves to go to work and do their job without their boss trying to have sex with them.” He filed a sexual harassment complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in June 2024 and left the show shortly after.
Braxton Wells, another actor, also came forward in July 2025 with even more disturbing allegations. In a series of Instagram videos, Wells accused Mark E. Swinton, the senior vice president of scripted programming at Tyler Perry Studios, of grooming and raping him under false pretenses. He alleges that Swinton flew him from Los Angeles to Georgia and used his position of influence to commit the assault.
Wells claims that Perry was aware of the incident and complicit in covering it up. In his video, Wells called out multiple names linked to Perry’s studio, including Swinton, Perry himself, and other alleged enablers, accusing them of hiding behind NDAs, lawyers, and Hollywood politics.
“You built your empire on the image of a God-fearing man,” Wells said, “but when darkness crept in through your own executive, you chose silence.”
These aren’t the first accusations linked to Perry’s orbit. In late 2023, actor Christian Keyes, who worked on Diary of a Mad Black Woman, went live on Instagram to describe being sexually harassed for years by an unnamed “Black Hollywood billionaire.” While he never directly named Perry, many drew conclusions based on their professional history together.
Perry’s legal team has firmly denied the allegations. Attorney Matthew Boyd called Dixon’s lawsuit “a scam” and said Perry would not be intimidated. “Tyler will not be shaken down and we are confident these fabricated claims of harassment will fail,” Boyd said in a statement.
Despite the denials, the allegations have raised questions about power dynamics and abuse within Perry’s empire, which has long positioned itself as faith-driven and family-oriented. Neither Perry nor anyone from Tyler Perry Studios has issued a public statement in response to Braxton Wells’s accusations as of now.
While the court cases are just beginning to unfold, these claims have cast a shadow over one of Hollywood’s most powerful figures, signaling a moment of reckoning for an empire built on personal narrative, inspiration—and now, scrutiny.