Tyler Perry is facing another sexual assault lawsuit from an aspiring actor that his lawyers are calling a “money grab.”
Mario Rodriguez, a model who landed a minor role in Perry’s 2016 movie Boo! A Madea Halloween alleges in a new lawsuit that Perry sexually assaulted him and made unwanted sexual advances while promising him roles. Rodriguez is seeking $77 million in damages.
Rodriguez is being represented by attorney Jonathan J. Delshad, who also represented Derek Dixon, another actor who made similar allegations against Perry, 56, earlier this year.
Alex Spiro, an attorney for Perry, says in a statement on December 26, “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.” However, Delshad says Dixon’s claims “are alive and well, and none of them have failed; they were just moved to a different court,” as the case is relocated from California to Georgia.
In the lawsuit obtained by PEOPLE, Rodriguez claims that in 2015 he was approached by a trainer while at a Los Angeles gym who said Perry wanted to meet him. Rodriguez said Perry soon spoke to him over the phone and offered him a small role in the Madea Halloween film. He went on to play “Frat Guy #10” in the movie.
The complaint alleges multiple instances when Perry would invite Rodriguez over to his home under the guise of discussing future work projects, only to make sexual advances while drinking. In November 2018, Perry allegedly “grabbed [Rodriguez’s] penis,” and Rodriguez repeatedly told Mr. Perry to stop, and Rodriguez had to “physically struggle to get away.”
Perry allegedly would tell Rodriguez to “let it happen” and “If you were to just be with me, I would take care of you….” Rodriguez’s lawsuit claims that after two incidents, Perry allegedly apologized, handed him $5,000, and sent him away.”
At a final alleged encounter in April 2019, “More than ever before, it was clear that Mr. Perry would do whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted, to whomever he wanted, no matter how many times he was rejected.”
The lawsuit claims Perry would “randomly reach out to” Rodriguez through 2024, and “when Perry became aware that Rodriguez was going to file this action, Perry once again reached out to Rodriguez by text,” telling him he “did so much to help Rodriguez” and he “was feeling betrayed.”
In a Dec. 13 Instagram video, Rodriguez spoke about feeling “scared and ashamed,” explaining why he hadn’t previously come forward, though he did not mention Perry by name in the post, just a “powerful director “that everybody knows.”
“I stayed quiet for much too long. And I just want to say I’m really sorry, man. Because if I had spoken up sooner, I could’ve saved somebody that this probably happened to after me,” he says at one point to his nearly 1 million followers in the clip. “I just want to say sorry for that, whoever that may be. It could’ve stopped with me if I had said something… But I’m speaking up now.”
Dixon, who starred on Perry’s TV series The Oval, filed a $260 million lawsuit against Perry in June, alleging sexual harassment, assault, and retaliation, which the filmmaker denies.
In September, one of Perry’s lawyers, Matthew Boyd, claimed Dixon is “an individual who got close to Tyler Perry for what now appears to be nothing more than setting up a scam.” He added at the time, “Tyler will not be shaken down, and we are confident these fabricated claims of harassment will fail.”
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