Tyler Perry Gets $77M Sexual Assault Lawsuit Under the Tree

Tyler Perry is facing a second sexual assault lawsuit from another aspiring actor, this time for $77 million dollars, and it was filed on Christmas Day.  Perry’s lawyer has come out swinging, saying this is just another “money grab” that will fail, pointing out the very same lawyer who filed the earlier lawsuit against Perry is now representing his second accuser.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
Hey there, folks. It is Saturday, December twenty seventh, and
what the actual hell waking up to the news that
Tyler Perry was served with a seventy seven million dollar
sexual assault lawsuit on Christmas Day? With that, welcome to
this episode of Amy and tj H. There was something.

(00:33):
I don't know what day? Does it matter? Do you
think this was intentional? Why would you file something on
Christmas Day?

Speaker 2 (00:38):
That seems like it would have had to be intentional.
Who is thinking about filing a lawsuit on Christmas Day?
You're doing it? I think to say, f you, I
think to say, hey, Mary fing Christmas because that's gonna
obviously that's going to ruin. I would think maybe I'm
taking a license here to assume what Tyler Perry felt
when he saw this or actually was aware of it.

(01:01):
But yeah, that would dampen the mood on Christmas Day.

Speaker 1 (01:05):
So yeah, and again I guess they're able suit because
you can file electronically now, so you can do it
anytime you want. So obviously a court wasn't open on
Christmas Day, but by all reporting out there, this thing
officially got filed on Christmas Day. And what we're talking
about now, Robes is this is now the second I
guess you could call maybe aspiring or up and coming
actor to hit him with a sexual assault lawsuit. This

(01:28):
one is graphic as hell and it wants a lot
of money.

Speaker 2 (01:31):
Yes, this was filed by Mario Rodriguez, so he is
putting his name to the lawsuit. That isn't always the case.
But both of the accusers now who accused Tyler Perry
of similar wrongdoing sexual misconduct, they both put their names
on the lawsuits. They were not John Doe. This one
is Mario Rodriguez and he is asking for seventy seven

(01:55):
million dollars in damage.

Speaker 1 (01:56):
Can I s guy, ask you about that point for
a second, because you talk about this oftentimes it's usually
a woman that's come forward ensuing, but you always and
I think the debate has been out there. Why should
someone be allowed to remain anonymous and essentially ruin somebody
else's life, reputation, and career when we don't know if
these allegations are true. You have always said when somebody

(02:18):
puts their name on it, it reads a little different.

Speaker 2 (02:20):
It does read differently. And I am somebody who is
of the belief when it comes to something criminal. So
if this Mario Rodriguez wanted to take this to police,
I absolutely do think there should be some sort of
protection involved because it discourages folks obviously from coming forward
to say what happened to them. So when it's a
criminal procedure, I fully support being anonymous because I think

(02:41):
it has to be I understand how much that is.
That's terrible when you're the one being accused, but for
the accuser, that does get people to feel safer to
come forward. Now, when it comes to a civil lawsuit,
when you want money, I fully think you need to
put your name on it, like put your name on it,
because now you're not asking for or criminal justice or

(03:02):
some sort of authority where you're actually trying to stop
a criminal act. You want money. And I'm not saying
that there's anything wrong with that. Obviously we have a
civil court system for a reason. But I do think
you need to put your name on that. I do.

Speaker 1 (03:17):
He absolutely has and the name is Mario Rodriguez, even
though robes most people have no idea who he is.
Because I was saying to you downstairs, you said, wait,
are you serious? We were just talking about it downstairs
with Ava and like, what was he in? What does
he do? And I immediately said he was frat guy
number ten in Boo a Medea Halloween. So I laughed,

(03:39):
you laughed out loud.

Speaker 2 (03:40):
I thought you were making just like you're clever like that,
coming up with some funny, obscure role that somebody might
have in a Tyler Perry movie. And turns out that's
exactly what his credits are, frat guy number ten.

Speaker 1 (03:54):
So we say that to say, not to make light
of this guy and make fun, but he was an
up and coming actor who got this role in this movie.
So what he's alleging in the lawsuit very much has
to do with that movie, because he says he was
approached at a gym in twenty fifteen by an Equinox
trainer saying, hey, Tyler Perry wants to meet you, wants

(04:17):
to talk to you, wants to offer you a role.
That's he says, that happened. It's yes, Bizaarre.

Speaker 2 (04:22):
Yes. That seems a little strange that somehow Tyler Perry
would use an Equinox trainer as his Yeah. I I
was gonna say, madam, but his I don't know his
why his casting director, Okay, why do I need a
guy at the gym? It seems so strange, it seems odd.

Speaker 1 (04:41):
So again, that's just what he's claiming. He does say
that after that interaction with the trainer, he was able
to get on the phone with Tyler Perry, who ended
up letting him audition for and he got this role
of frat guy number ten in the movie In and Now.
At this point things started happening roles, and he described
several incidents in which he was with Tyler Perry at

(05:02):
certain moments, and he described, and this thing is pretty
graphic at times, of what he claimed Tyler Perry did.

Speaker 2 (05:08):
Yes, he says specifically in twenty eighteen, there was an
incident where he grabbed his penis, I guess, for lack
of a better way to say it, he said he
had to struggle to get away, and that Tyler Perry
offered him five thousand dollars in immediate and apologized like dude,
I'm sorry, and he invited him with the promise of
more movie roles. So he went. He said, he went

(05:29):
to go see Tyler Perry thinking he was going to
get more roles and advance his career, and instead he
received a very unwonted advance.

Speaker 1 (05:39):
Okay, okay, that's awful. If this happened the way he's describing,
that's awful. That shouldn't happen to anybody. Man, woman, doesn't
matter the five thousand dollars. The claim is that he
he actually got in an uber, he was about to
take an uber. Oh you know what I'm talking about,
and that it wasn't even an offer. I just shoved
it in his pain.

Speaker 2 (05:58):
Yes, here you go, five thousand dollars.

Speaker 1 (06:01):
Again, this is just the claim. Now, A couple of
issues with this, Robes, I'm curious to what you think
about it is that it's coming from what some would
say might not be the best source of a lawsuit,
not because of the accuser, but because of the accuser's lawyer,
who you might not know his name either, but Jonathan

(06:21):
Dell Shad. But he also now Robes represents Derek Dixon,
the other actor who sued Tyler Berry earlier this year
for sexual assault for two hundred and sixty million dollars.
In that we'll get into some of those details. But wow,
here here we go again. You're trying another one. Is
what the suggestion is the same lawyer is well we

(06:42):
got nowhere with that one so far, so let's try
another one.

Speaker 2 (06:44):
It's correct a claim, yes, and Rodriguez apparently he claims
that he decided to take action and apparently even maybe
perhaps use this same lawyer when he heard the news
of Dixon's case. I don't know why, because that was
in June, so I don't know why he waited until
Christmas Day to file his civil lawsuit. Maybe he was
getting his ducks in a row. I'm not sure. But

(07:05):
he says that this is weird that he decided to
go forward as with his claims after a Sean Diddy
Combe's referencing friend texted him with news about Dixon's case.
It's just I don't know. He's saying that he felt like, Wow,
I'm not the only one. Tyler Perry has done this before.
There is a pattern of abuse, and I need to

(07:27):
speak up and step up and file this lawsuit to
protect other people. But he wants seventy seven million dollars.

Speaker 1 (07:34):
Again, that could that first part of the claim, You
could see that could make sense to a jury. Quite frankly,
why in the motivation for stepping forward the numbers, I
don't know, But the lawyer says it this way. We
hope a jury awards enough money to make Perry regret
his actions. Is that why you put those numbers on it?
Is that why you have the number that high. But

(07:56):
he's claiming what emotional distress? He's claiming what he had?

Speaker 2 (08:00):
Yeah, he has, Actually I have exactly what it was,
because he said he has PTSD. He said he has
emotional distress and just okay, psychological, emotional, and economic injuries
from Tyler Perry's alleged actions against him. So that's what
he's claiming.

Speaker 1 (08:20):
Okay, he's talking about that seventy seven million. Lionsgate, the
studio that puts out Tyler Perry's media movies, had they
have mentioned and named them in this lawsuit as well,
claiming that they should have known this was happening, and
claims they are kind of a blind eye to their
morality clause because this guy's a big deal and he's Tyler.

Speaker 2 (08:37):
Pert That's exactly they say, Lionsgate, although it's been noted
they didn't. They didn't print out in this lawsuits. Lionsgate
is one word. You know that we've seen that obviously
the emblem everywhere.

Speaker 1 (08:50):
Anybody he's seen a movie in the past twenty years,
spell lions lions Gate.

Speaker 2 (08:53):
It's so odd that it was spelled lions with a
capital L space capital G gate. So it's weird. Misspelled
the name of the prominent movie production company that they're suing.
So that was just a little strange. But lions Gate,
they say, should have known.

Speaker 1 (09:09):
Yes, I thought it was maybe just an oversight. You
had the better sasse that weight. Maybe that makes sense.

Speaker 2 (09:15):
What if they like aied this or yes, didn't Actually
I feel like we have seen judges chastise attorneys these days,
because she was like, I can tell you aied this file.
And so for the lions Gate movie company to be
misspelled or spelled not in a way that it is

(09:38):
supposed to be, I would think maybe they just aied this,
which is also bizarre. This is kind of a big deal,
a big name, a huge allegation, and a massive lawsuit.
So why wouldn't you check.

Speaker 1 (09:50):
You need to be perfect in your facts, in your details,
and your words to that. Okay, I don't know if
we should make that much up, but it seems like
a judge and we have seen that roes like, if
it's big of a deal, you couldn't take it suit.
You didn't spell check your damn thing. It's a can
you can an intern? Can somebody have made that mistake?

(10:11):
I don't know. I don't even know if it should
be a big deal, but it was something bizarre that
some outlets have pointed out. We talked about this. The
second lawsuit, the second actor. The first one was Derek Dixon.
Again his roles. He wanted two hundred and sixty million,
and he had I mean, he had a lot of
details in his he had, I mean, he think like
some text exchanges and whatnot. But that case is ongoing, yes.

Speaker 2 (10:32):
And it was filed, as we mentioned in June. It's
been moved to federal court now, so it's a little
confusing the path it's taking, but it's it's not gone.
It's still there and they're trying to move it forward.
So now, obviously the second lawsuit, Perry's gonna have to
deal with where was this filed in the state of Georgia.

Speaker 1 (10:55):
Uh, the this was LA as well.

Speaker 2 (10:56):
This is LA as well.

Speaker 1 (10:57):
So the first one, yes, Derek Dixon, let's go straight.
Derek Dickson's case filed in LA. Something about he didn't
live there, So they need to put another jurisdic court
in Georgia, and now they moved to Georgia, where Tyler
Perry resides. So this other guy, the new allegation is
in la as well, so we shall see. But robes

(11:18):
that case of of Derek Dixon, this was one where
Tyler Perry said that this was a scam. Yes, like
this guy was actually had done the work to get
close to him. Now they didn't give a lot of details,
but that seems like there were some kind of I'm
not suggesting romantic relationship, but this was somebody that was
in his circle to a certain degree. I didn't watch

(11:40):
the show The Oval.

Speaker 2 (11:41):
I didn't either, but he's star He was a.

Speaker 1 (11:42):
Starring role, not like frag Guy Number ten, but this
was he had a starring role with that.

Speaker 2 (11:46):
Look, these are these types of cases are so difficult.
You and I were talking about this before we came on,
and just like what what, who should you believe? What
can be believed? It's really these are incredibly difficult cases,
and I understand why at the time many people who
are actual victims of sexual assault don't go to police.

(12:08):
There are a lot of reasons why, especially when you
have somebody who is prominent and in a position of power,
and you have a career you're trying to build. You
don't want to ruffle feathers. You don't want to be
the person who's calling out a huge, powerful person. So
I understand why people might wait and are afraid to
say something or speak up or speak out. But it's
tough when ten years have gone by and now you're

(12:30):
asking for gobsmacks of money, people start to question the
validity of these stories or whether or not they're they
happen the way they said that they happened. Do you
remember them? Do you just remember how you felt and
then you added ten years? Can you remember in detail
things that happened ten years ago? It just so?

Speaker 1 (12:47):
Will the answer be to advocates for sexual assault pictures? Yes, right,
some of that stuff burns in your memory. Some of
that's stealthy. Did you document it though it was? Something?
The other side will say?

Speaker 2 (12:56):
But tough cases, they are oms.

Speaker 1 (12:59):
What do you do? Because we used to somebody you
have to flat out first thing, one hundred percent believe
the accuser is what we have been trained to because
so many before have not been believed. So how do
you do that? Should we treat it like anything else.
He is innocent until proven guilty.

Speaker 2 (13:15):
Yes, I think so, you have to.

Speaker 1 (13:16):
But look what happens if he is not guilty on
something like this.

Speaker 2 (13:20):
It's it's it's terrible that the once you have an
accusation like this with someone who put their name to it,
and he does have text messages, he does have some
things that he has provided in this filing, but you
can never reclaim your reputation completely ever again, even if
you are completely innocent. And maybe he does have relationships
outside of his marriage, A lot of people do, Okay,

(13:43):
what is the line between inappropriate and criminal and abusive?
It's so it's so great, And what he may have
thought was inappropriate, someone else might have thought is perfectly fine.
And that's how you solicit having affairs or relationships on
the down low or on the side. I don't know
how things work.

Speaker 1 (14:03):
We make clear nobody's making that suggestion, right, We need
to make clear absolutely not. We are not, and nobody
else necessarily is. But folks are just trying to piece
together what this is and what it means, and scenarios
in which two people could see things very differently, and
it might not or it might raise to the level
of criminality. I don't know, but this isn't a criminal case.

(14:26):
It's a civil case. We'll stay with us here, folks.
When we come back, we'll tell you what Tyler Perry's
lawyer said, but first we'll tell you who he is.
And it's clear Tyler Perry is not messing around in
this case. Also, Robes and I will give you kind
of our personal feelings about a guy we have been around,
been time with, and are fans of the Here we

(15:00):
continue here on Amy and TJ and Robes. I have
to look Tyler Perry. I'm not a madea movie fan.
I mean, I don't think that's my lane necessarily, and
that's fine, But I am an enormous fan of Tyler
Perry for what he has built, what he has done, people,
he has employed, careers he has launched. There are so

(15:24):
many people, oh so much to this guy. And when
you see down in Atlanta era that area, he built
a whole movie studio. This guy pulled himself up and
is another great Black American entrepreneur story. And so the
idea of this stings to think this guy in both cases,

(15:48):
one might be guilty of something and two might not.
It sucks either way.

Speaker 2 (15:55):
Yeah, and that's such a good way to put it.
He was while we were in Good Morning America. He
was almost, I don't want to say, a fixture, but
he was a friend of the show. He was on
a lot. We saw him, met with him, interacted with him,
interviewed him multiple times. He had even reached out to
me when I did a story actually it was the

(16:16):
Uvaldi shooting, and found a way to get a message
to me. I just saw him to be an incredibly kind, respectful,
creative person who was who wasn't just there for himself.
I saw him reach out and do good. And it's
just awful to think that a like you said, some
of this might be true, but man, it's even worse

(16:36):
to think it might not be.

Speaker 1 (16:37):
The thing is, we don't know, we don't All we
have is our experience with this guy and everything there said. Look,
we don't hang out with him in his house, no,
but it flies in the face and it just it
just sucks to be here. However, he has made clear
not just in the statements as lawyer put out, but
just in the lawyer he tired that he's about to

(16:59):
defend himself.

Speaker 2 (16:59):
Yes, he is represented by the Alex Spiro, and we
say the Alex Spiro. That name probably sounds familiar to
you if you read the news at all, because he
most recently repped jay Z and jay Z Man. When
he got his accusation, he came out swinging like, I
here are the receipts. Here's how I couldn't have done

(17:21):
what you just said. I was never in New Jersey
on that day. And here's why boom. Alex Spiro was
his guy. They came out swinging, we will not be
paying money to people who are trying to cash in
on the fear of you messing with my reputation. I
stand by who I am. Actually, jay Z, that was
impressive that.

Speaker 1 (17:41):
One was discussed. It was an allegation that he raked
before fourteen. It was that was yeah, damn, I mean.

Speaker 2 (17:47):
But Alex Spiro was his man and their strategy. It
was powerful and look, you never know what happens, but man,
that was I had to That was a slow clap,
like he really came out and said I will be
defending myself.

Speaker 1 (18:01):
Period and defended Alec Baldwin as well. As you notice
is there's a lot that's happened in that case and
a lot of his reputation and all this hean in
jail in that case he got dealt with.

Speaker 2 (18:13):
I mean a woman died, another man was severely injured
on that movie set.

Speaker 1 (18:17):
Yes, that's who lawyer is that Tyler Perry is now
dealing with. And he said this, and he Robes is
trying to point out that he is. He is going
out to the credibility of the case in the first place,
like this isn't even worth us spending time on because
just look who this guy is. He's saying, look at
who this lawyer is. This is just what he does.

Speaker 2 (18:38):
That's sad. Yes, So here was their official statement. Having
recently failed in another matter against mister 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 period money might drop a money money grab.

Speaker 1 (18:57):
These are these are awful cases in somebody with that
big of a name, that much success, has that much
of an influence. Who knows. I don't know how this
is going to go. Nothing they're saying seems to be
a suggestion that a case will be settled. The first one,
the two hundred and sixty million dollars one is continuing
to go through the courts twenty twenty six. We might

(19:18):
have a lot of headlines in court and whatever else
having to do with Tyler Perry. I just it sucks.
No matter what robes we can, we don't know, but
the only person we know in this situation is and
had experience with, is Tyler Perry. And I hate to
hear and see this happening. And if these folks are victimized,
they should be taken care of and embraced in every

(19:41):
way possible. So, like you said, these are difficult cases.
What do you do it?

Speaker 2 (19:46):
It's tough, but I think the important thing is to
not rush to judgment and to let the court system
play out and hope that look, we have to lean
on that and hope that a judge who has a
much better legal mind than either of us looks at
the eviden and is able to make the best decision.
But I do appreciate the fact that he isn't settling.
I mean, look, he could have I don't know, but

(20:08):
you could just pay out and have it all go
away and be quiet and no one knows and no
one hears. There is something to defending your honor and
defending your reputation, and that is exactly what Tyler Perry
is doing right now.

Speaker 1 (20:19):
And he put a lot into building in over decades.
So there's one to hop on. Give you that update
again about a lawsuit filed on Christmas Day against Tyler Perry,
whose Medea movies alone have made over half a billion dollars. So, folks,
we always appreciate you spending some time here with us
on behalf of my dear Amy Robot. I'm TJ. Holme

(20:41):
here y