Tyler Perry’s attorney has responded to Derek Dixon’s recent interview with ABC News, where he doubled down on his allegations made in his $260 million sexual assault lawsuit against the director.
“This is an individual who got close to Tyler Perry for what now appears to be nothing more than setting up a scam,” Matthew Boyd told PEOPLE.
He continued, “Tyler will not be shaken down, and we are confident these fabricated claims of harassment will fail.”
During the interview, Dixon reiterated that while he tried to keep his relationship with Perry professional, Perry would not stop his alleged harassment.
“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,” Dixon told ABC News.
He detailed several incidents, including an alleged groping back in October 2020.
Dixon says that in December 2020, he visited a physician “who indicated that Dixon exhibited severe symptoms of acute stress, insomnia, stomach issues, and dangerously low cortisol levels due to the sexual harassment and assault” and prescribed him the antidepressant, Zoloft.