Text messages have shaped both sides of the case from the start. Now the filmmaker wants the court to limit where the latest batch can go.
By EEW Magazine Online News Editors
Mario Rodriguez, left, and Tyler Perry, right. Rodriguez is seeking at least $77 million in a sexual assault lawsuit that Perry denies. (Photos: Getty Images / Illustration: EEW Magazine Online)
Tyler Perry is asking a Los Angeles court to keep private text messages he exchanged with associates out of public view. It is the latest turn in a $77 million sexual assault lawsuit brought by Mario Rodriguez, an actor who appeared in Perry’s 2016 film “Boo! A Madea Halloween.”
According to court documents first reported Thursday by TMZ, Perry has already turned the messages over to Rodriguez as part of the litigation. He contends the two sides previously agreed the material would remain confidential.
Perry argues that some of the conversations involve financial matters and that the associates on the other end of them have nothing to do with the allegations. He says he and those associates believed their exchanges were private, and that releasing them would subject people outside the case to unnecessary annoyance and embarrassment. Rodriguez had not responded to the request in court as of Thursday. EEW Magazine has not reviewed the filing.
The messages are already in Rodriguez’s hands. What the court must now decide is whether he is free to share them beyond the lawsuit.
Rodriguez filed suit in Los Angeles Superior Court on Dec. 26, 2025. His complaint says a trainer at an Equinox gym in Los Angeles told him Perry wanted his number to discuss an acting role. He said Perry later encouraged him to audition for the Madea film, where he was cast as “Frat Guy #10.”
Rodriguez alleges Perry made repeated unwanted sexual advances at Perry’s Los Angeles home during encounters between 2014 and 2019. This included touching him inappropriately while they watched a movie, trying to unbuckle his pants and placing Rodriguez’s hand on his genitals. The complaint says Perry gave him $5,000 after some of those encounters.
The suit seeks at least $77 million on claims of sexual assault, sexual battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Tyler Perry, shown in a file photo, denies the allegations in Mario Rodriguez’s $77 million sexual assault lawsuit. (Photo: Getty Images)
Perry has denied the allegations. His attorney, Alex Spiro, has called the case “nothing but a $77 million money grab scam.” In court papers, Perry has said Rodriguez repeatedly asked him for help paying for a car, an apartment and medical bills, and turned against him once that help stopped.
Text messages have shaped both sides’ accounts from the beginning. The lawsuit says Rodriguez cut off contact in 2019 and that Perry periodically reached out afterward.
Days after the filing, the Associated Press reported obtaining screenshots showing Rodriguez initiating contact with Perry on Thanksgiving 2024. He thanked him for support through difficult seasons of his life and wrote that he appreciated him “to the moon.” In messages dated Aug. 31, 2025, Rodriguez described ongoing health problems, said he had no health insurance and told Perry he was scared and struggling financially.
Rodriguez responded with a statement saying he sent those messages at an especially vulnerable point in his life. In situations involving exploitation, he said, money can serve “to manage guilt, avoid conflict, or maintain silence.”
Those exchanges passed between Perry and Rodriguez. The messages at the center of the new dispute involve Perry and other people.
The lawsuit also names Lionsgate, which distributed “Boo! A Madea Halloween.” Rodriguez alleges the studio learned through an audit that Perry had used his position as a producer to engage in sexual misconduct against aspiring actors cast in Lionsgate films, and failed to act. Lionsgate has fought to be dismissed.
In court papers filed this spring, the studio said Rodriguez spent less than a week on set, does not allege misconduct during filming and places every alleged incident at Perry’s private residence.
Attorneys for Perry and Lionsgate also contend Rodriguez added the studio to keep the case out of federal court, where lawsuits between residents of different states can be heard. Perry lives in Georgia, and Rodriguez lives in California.
A separate lawsuit by actor Derek Dixon, who appeared in Perry’s series “The Oval” and “Ruthless,” was moved from California state court to federal court in Georgia. Dixon, who is also represented by Rodriguez’s attorney, Jonathan Delshad, is seeking $260 million. Perry denies those allegations as well.
Actor Derek Dixon describes the allegations in his lawsuit accusing media mogul Tyler Perry of sexual harassment and assault, claims Perry denies, in an interview that aired Sept. 10, 2025. (Photo: ABC News)
Rodriguez has amended his complaint twice, in April and July, adding a negligence claim against the studio. On Oct. 19, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Brock T. Hammond issued a tentative ruling indicating he was inclined to deny Lionsgate’s request to be removed, finding that Rodriguez had corrected problems in earlier versions of the suit. After hearing arguments the next day, Hammond took the matter under submission without issuing a final decision, MyNewsLA reported.
The court now holds two open questions: whether Lionsgate remains a defendant, and whether messages Perry has already surrendered can travel beyond the case. No ruling on the confidentiality request had been reported as of Thursday.
Perry, 57, continues to deny Rodriguez’s allegations, and no court has made any finding of liability.