actor Derek Dixon sued Perry in June<\/a>, alleging quid pro quo sexual harassment, sexual battery, retaliation and more. Dixon is seeking $260 million in damages.<\/p>\nRodriguez alleges in his lawsuit that Perry, 56, leveraged his Hollywood stature \u201cto abuse and sexually assault people who hope to secure roles in his movies,\u201d echoing claims Dixon made in his June filing. Rodriguez also alleges that Perry did not rehire him for further projects because he rejected the director\u2019s sexual advances. Rodriguez and Dixon are both represented by attorney Jonathan J. Delshad. <\/p>\n
According to the new lawsuit, Rodriguez started out as a model before a trainer approached him at a luxury gym in 2015 and put him in contact with Perry for a potential role in \u201cBoo! A Madea Halloween.\u201d Before Rodriguez auditioned and secured the minor role, Perry allegedly informed him, \u201cI\u2019m not a bad person to know and have in your corner\u201d and touted the idea of more roles in the future. <\/p>\n
The lawsuit alleges the mogul first sexually assaulted Rodriguez in Perry\u2019s Los Angeles home in 2015. The two began drinking together before Perry invited the actor-model to his home theater to watch a movie, the document says. Perry, who instructed Rodriguez to leave his phone in the kitchen, allegedly asked the actor about his personal life and proceeded to hug him and compliment his appearance. He allegedly began rubbing Rodriguez\u2019s shoulders and chest while making sexual noises, the lawsuit said. After Rodriguez attempted to distance himself, Perry allegedly continued touching the actor, \u201crubbing his inner thigh right next to his penis,\u201d the complaint says.<\/p>\n
The filmmaker\u2019s sexual assaults persisted, the lawsuit alleges, in the years after he and Rodriguez wrapped the \u201cMadea\u201d film in 2016. Rodriguez returned to L.A. and stayed in contact with Perry, who invited Rodriguez to visit his home again to discuss future projects, the filing says. <\/p>\n
\u201cAfter a couple of visits, Mr. Perry then again began to make more sexual comments to Mr. Rodriguez\u201d about his appearance, \u201cand to ask him graphic sexual questions\u201d including whether he had ever had sex with another man, the lawsuit says. Perry allegedly grabbed Rodriguez\u2019s leg near his genitals again, the complaint says. <\/p>\n
In November 2018, Rodriguez accepted another invitation from Perry to discuss a potential role in the TV series \u201cThe Oval.\u201d They met for dinner in Beverly Hills, where Perry allegedly asked \u201cSo what are we? What are we doing?\u201d before the director instructed Rodriguez to meet him at his Los Angeles home later that evening. <\/p>\n
Conversations about potential collaborations took a sexual turn, the lawsuit says, when Perry asked Rodriguez whether he liked oral sex and if he had given oral sex to a man. Perry allegedly tightly hugged Rodriguez, tried to unbuckle the actor\u2019s pants, reached into his underwear and grabbed his penis, according to the complaint. Before Rodriguez left Perry\u2019s home in a rideshare, the filmmaker placed $5,000 in his pocket, the suit says.<\/p>\n
Perry continued to invite Rodriguez to his Los Angeles home under the guise of work and sexually assaulted the actor over the following months, the lawsuit says. After another incident in April 2019, the suit says, Rodriguez stopped communicating with Perry. <\/p>\n
Perry allegedly became infuriated by Rodriguez\u2019s efforts to keep his distance and sent the actor expletive-filled texts. The lawsuit includes screenshots of the alleged exchanges, including one in which Rodriguez apologizes for not staying in touch with the director due to personal matters. <\/p>\n
\u201cI deserve a text at [least] once a month,\u201d Perry texted Rodriguez, according to the lawsuit. He also asked the actor about his physical training and requested to see pictures, the complaint said. <\/p>\n
Regarding his surfaced texts to Perry, Rodriguez added in his statement that \u201ccontinued financial support and access are not inconsistent with abuse \u2014 they are often part of the power dynamics that follow it.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cThe existence of financial assistance does not disprove harm. It is entirely consistent with the complex realities survivors face after abuse.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rodriguez also sued Perry for intentional infliction of emotional distress and sued \u201cBoo! A Madea Halloween\u201d distributor Lionsgate for negligent retention.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An actor who appeared in Tyler Perry\u2019s \u201cBoo! A Madea Halloween\u201d allegedly confided in the media mogul about…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":479301,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[18046,217150,19728,171,17810,217152,379,2444,217149,67653,1534,217153,38323,10409,217151,4063,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-479300","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-actor","9":"tag-civil-complaint","10":"tag-director","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-halloween","13":"tag-home-theater","14":"tag-lawsuit","15":"tag-los-angeles-times","16":"tag-mario-rodriguez","17":"tag-message","18":"tag-perry","19":"tag-rodriguez-suit","20":"tag-screenshot","21":"tag-sexual-assault","22":"tag-statement-monday","23":"tag-text","24":"tag-united-states","25":"tag-unitedstates","26":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115806811720469194","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=479300"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479300\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/479301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=479300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=479300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=479300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}