Was Tyler Perry arrested? Viral claim erupts amid Derek Dixon allegations

A video on YouTube suggests that Tyler Perry has been arrested with people even sharing this on social media, which is reinforcing the rumors. Despite its popularity, Perry who is 55, has not been arrested and remains free. The rumors stem from Derek Dixon's ongoing legal lawsuit against Perry for sexual harassment and assault.

In June 2025, Dixon, who became well-known for playing Dale on Tyler Perry's BET show The Oval, sued the director for $260 million. Perry is charged in the complaint with sexual harassment and assault.

In interviews, Dixon said that after years of being silent, he finally made a decision to come out as he did not "want to stay silent about it anymore", even though "it's a vulnerable thing to talk about." Dixon said on the ABC interview:

"It's been hard. There's a lot of shame around it. Just trying to think what you could have done better and having to deal with the judgment of how you could've ended it better without being in that situation."

---

Allegations against Tyler Perry

According to the court documents, Dixon was first contacted by Perry in 2019 before being cast in The Oval. He was working at an events company at the time. Dixon claims that Perry offered him his number, inquired about his acting career, and added:

"We'll talk about this."

After he was cast, Perry started sending him messages, some of which were sexual in nature. Dixon said:

"One of them says, 'What's it going to take for you to have guiltless sex? Have y'all found that in therapy yet? I would hope that you would let someone hold and make love to you.'"

Dixon asserted that in early 2020, he was at Perry's house having drinks, and Perry had asked him to stay over at his guest house. He recalled an incident where Perry crawled into bed with him, stroked his leg, and made remarks about his attractiveness. Dixon said that he turned down the approaches and felt that his stance jeopardized his role on the show. He said:

"I got into bed and then I noticed that he climbed into bed with me as well and started rubbing my leg. I jumped out of bed...he had said, 'Turn around so I can look at you' and just comment on how I looked. And then he got up and left. So I thought after that instance, it was pretty clear that I was not interested in that type of a relationship,"

He also stated that after shooting a scene where Dixon's character was shot, Perry had invited him to drink in his trailer. Dixon says that he was slammed against the wall and groped when he refused.

In another incident at Perry's Atlanta home in June 2021. Dixon said that while pretending to use a weight monitor, Perry forced him to undress to his underwear, then pulled his clothes down and groped him once more. Dixon claimed that he escaped by locking himself in the bathroom. Dixon recalled

"He reached down and pulled my underwear down and grabbed my a** and I tried to stop him and pull back my underwear up and he grabbed my arms and said, 'No, no, no, it's OK, just go with it.' I said, 'Stop, I don't want to be naked."

Dixon informed that he stopped talking to Perry in 2024 and departed The Oval in September of that year. He said that Perry's business owned the rights to a program he wrote called Losing It, but it was never developed.

Dixon's loss of earnings and career opportunities after leaving The Oval in 2024 is one of the factors supporting the lawsuit's $260 million claim. He underlined that the amount came to $260 million. Dixon told ABC:

“Part of that number is my lost job, my lost income, the loss of a show. The other part of that is a deterrent — how do you stop a billionaire who won’t stop themselves from doing this?”

---

Tyler Perry's legal response

Tyler Perry's legal team has rejected all accusations. His lawyer, Matthew Boyd, told ABC in a statement that "this is an individual who got close to Tyler Perry for what now appears to be nothing more than setting up a scam."

The attorney added:

"Tyler will not be shaken down and we are confident these fabricated claims of harassment will fail."

As of now, Tyler Perry has not released any statements.

---

Despite the rumors circulating on social media, Tyler Perry has not been arrested.

Stay tuned to Soap Central for more information.