Perry

KATY Perry’s new love Justin Trudeau was seen making a “subtle nod” to their new romance with his Halloween costume.

Katy, 41, and former Canadian Prime Minister Justin, 53, were first linked together in July, shortly after her split from Orlando Bloom, 48.

Since then things have been heating up between the new couple, which included them being spotted kissing on her yacht earlier this month..

Now, in sweet nod to his new girlfriend, Justin paid homage to her with his Halloween costume.

Sharing an Instagram post of his spooky outfit, he was dressed as a shark while his son Hadrien, 11, as a wounded surfer.

He wrote: “Ready for Halloween with Hadrien!”

Justin added: “We built the costume together – a little father-son Halloween teamwork.”

What was great about the costume is that it is a sweet nod to Katy’s Super Bowl halftime performance in 2015, when the backup dancers became a meme in their shark outfits.

GOING PUBLIC

Justin’s Halloween costume comes just days after he seen out in public with Katy for the first time – as they left a strip club.

The pair stepped out together in Paris last weekend for the singer’s birthday

On Saturday, they looked smitten with each other and in struggled to keep their eyes off each other.

The birthday girl was seen adoringly glancing over at Justin while the exited the venue, while carrying red roses in her hands.

In a video from the moment the pair were snapped, paparazzi serenaded Katy as they crooned “Happy Birthday” to celebrate her 41st birthday.

Earlier this month, Katy, who has been on her Lifetimes world tour, took to the stage in London when she broke her silence on the romance rumours with Justin.

Addressing the crowd, the pop star said: “London, England, you’re like this on a Monday night after a whole day at work and a whole day at school?

“No wonder I fall for Englishmen all the time… but not anymore.”

The quip came days after photos emerged of Katy and Justin kissing aboard her 78ft yacht, the Caravelle, off the coast of Santa Barbara, California. 

In the snaps, a shirtless Trudeau could be seen with his hand on the star’s bottom as the two shared a private moment.

Sources told The Sun the pair have been secretly dating since the start of the summer. 

“They haven’t been able to spend a lot of time together as she’s on tour, but they’re constantly in contact — always FaceTiming and messaging each other,” an insider said.

BUDDING ROMANCE

The Sun revealed earlier this month that the pair are “constantly in contact” after they went public with their romance.

Relationship rumours began to swirl in July after singer Katy and Justin were seen dining together at the swanky Le Violon restaurant in Montreal, Canada.

It came a month after Katy announced she had split from Brit actor Orlando.

At the time, neither Katy nor Justin commented on the romance claims.

RAPE PROBE

Police launch urgent manhunt after girl raped in park in broad daylight attack

‘EVERYTHING’S CHANGED’

Mrs Hinch opens up on losing her dad & dealing with shock diagnosis

Our source said: “He’s a bit of a geek and can’t believe someone as famous and glamorous as Katy is interested in him, whereas she’s flattered such a respected politician wants to date her.”

Katy and Trudeau were pictured on her yacht, the 78ft Caravelle, off Santa Barbara in California, last month.

Pop star and recreational astronaut Katy Perry has found a new flame in former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, in an unexpected romance that feels like a “Mad Libs” page come to life.

The “California Gurls” hitmaker and the longtime politician publicly debuted their relationship over the weekend, shutting down months of speculation. Perry, 41, and Trudeau, 53, were photographed holding hands during a date night in Paris on Saturday.

The singer, in a red body-hugging dress, and Trudeau in a black suit were seen exiting cabaret club Crazy Horse Paris, where they celebrated Perry’s birthday. Video shared by Backgrid shows Perry accepting a rose from a bystander and Trudeau placing his hand on her back as they walk to their SUV.

Perry and Trudeau first sparked relationship rumors in late July, when they were seen sharing a meal and some good conversation at an upscale restaurant in Montreal. They met up for their rendezvous, captured by TMZ, a month after Perry and “Pirates of the Caribbean” and “Lord of the Rings” star Orlando Bloom ended their engagement. The former couple welcomed a daughter in 2020 and continue to co-parent.

At the time, the split with Bloom was the latest blow to Perry’s public image. Prior to their separation, the Grammy-nominated singer’s album “143” faced backlash and scathing reviews, her participation in Blue Origin‘s flashy all-female crew flight was subject to scrutiny and her Lifetimes world tour proved divisive. Trudeau seemed to be all smiles at the latter in late July.

Fans spotted the former Canadian leader, who resigned in January after nearly a decade in power, dancing and singing at Perry’s tour stop in Montreal. Earlier this month paparazzi snapped pictures of the then-rumored couple packing on the PDA on the singer’s yacht off the coast of Santa Barbara, Perry’s hometown.

Trudeau began his romance with Perry after he and ex-wife Sophie Gregoire Trudeau announced their separation in 2023. The Trudeaus were married for 18 years and share three children. Though they are legally separated, their divorce is not yet final.

Neither Trudeau nor Perry has publicly addressed their relationship, save for one cheeky comment the singer made during a concert in London this month. When a fan tried shooting his shot and proposed to the singer, she responded, “You know you really should have asked me about 48 hours ago,” seemingly referring to her yacht outing with her new beau.

Perry continues the European leg of her Lifetimes tour Monday, performing at the MVM Dome in Budapest. Information about her remaining tour stops and future gigs can be found on her website.

Kings forward Corey Perry will be sidelined for six to eight weeks after undergoing knee surgery.

The 40-year-old Perry was injured Friday while skating at his new team’s training complex, the team announced Saturday. The Kings will report for training camp in less than a week, and their season opener is Oct. 7 against Colorado.

Perry agreed to a one-year, $2-million contract laden with incentives to join the Kings this summer for his 21st NHL season. The 2011 NHL MVP spent his first 14 seasons with the Kings’ archrivals, the Anaheim Ducks, before moving on to Dallas, Montreal, Tampa Bay, Chicago and Edmonton.

Perry has played in the Stanley Cup Final in five of the last six seasons — but his team lost each time, including back-to-back losses with the Oilers to the Florida Panthers. He won a Stanley Cup title with the Ducks back in 2007.

Perry recorded 448 goals and 487 assists during his first 20 seasons, and he begins the new season 121st on the NHL’s career scoring list. He had 19 goals and 11 assists in 81 regular-season games for Edmonton last season before adding 10 goals and four assists in the playoffs.

In the world of women’s cricket, Ellyse Perry has seen it all.

From an Australia debut in 2007 at the age of just 16, to juggling international football alongside cricket, to the unforgettable 3-19 with a fractured ankle to win the World Cup in 2013 – one of her eight World Cup wins – plus a Commonwealth Games triumph in 2022.

Throughout it all, the game has transformed beyond recognition, with Perry as the star at its centre.

The 34-year-old all-rounder has 337 caps for Australia across formats, having been one of the country’s first players to be awarded a central contract in 2008, and is now one of the top names on any wishlist for the world’s various franchise leagues.

Having represented Royal Challengers Bengaluru in India’s Women’s Premier League and Sydney Sixers in her native Women’s Big Bash (WBBL), Perry is now beginning her third season with Birmingham Phoenix in The Hundred, having spent the early summer playing for Hampshire in the Women’s Vitality Blast and the One-Day Cup.

Though Perry’s focus is on leading Phoenix, who finished seventh in the table in 2024, she and the other Australians in the tournament – including Alana King, Beth Mooney, Annabel Sutherland and Phoebe Litchfield – will have one eye on the upcoming challenge of defending their 50-over World Cup title in India this autumn.

The Australia side has a strong case to be regarded as one of the greatest teams in sporting history but their most recent triumph, a 16-0 thrashing of England in the Ashes, saw a spotlight on women’s cricket in the UK like never before.

“It’s really easy to get caught up in the scoreline of that series without really seeing the bigger picture,” said Perry.

“There are some amazing players in that English team, world-class players who can win a game from anywhere.

“It was a moment in time. It was great for us and for our fans, playing at home during our summer, but I sort of feel like it was probably a bit of an anomaly.

“The next time we meet, it’ll be different circumstances – maybe in a World Cup. It’s a moment that has passed and not something that we all want to get stuck on or gloat about because cricket is so fickle, things can change so quickly.”

England received widespread criticism for the defeats and their attitude, with fans becoming increasingly frustrated by repeated claims of them being “so close” to beating Australia and with accusations of cosiness and complacency within the team.

Though Perry admits she did not pay much attention to what was said in the media during the series, she welcomes the increased scrutiny as a good thing for the game.

“It shows that people care, and people expect a certain level of performance from their elite female teams and they are passionate about it.

“That’s a far cry from where the women’s game was five to 10 years ago. So while criticism and being held to account isn’t always a pleasant thing, equally it’s a very positive thing for the direction of the game and that it’s being taken really seriously.

“People expect more [now we are paid more] and all we’ve wanted is to be taken seriously and to be respected, for the way that we play the game and the level that we can take the game to, so with that comes pressure to perform.

“There will be moments where that’s hard to handle and it’s a challenge, but it’s also exactly what the game needs.”

Jennifer Aniston just came out with an unexpected, wistful comment about her “Friends” co-star Matthew Perry’s death: Part of her, she said, thinks it might be “better” for him that he died.

“We did everything we could when we could,” the “Morning Show” star said in an interview published Monday by Vanity Fair, talking about Perry’s friends’ attempts to help him when he was struggling with addiction. “But it almost felt like we’d been mourning Matthew for a long time because his battle with that disease was a really hard one for him to fight.”

Indeed, Perry discussed his friends’ efforts to help him in his 2022 memoir, “Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing,” which recounted his decades-long struggles with substance abuse as well as his numerous recovery efforts.

“Although he asserts he was never high while filming ‘Friends,’ he’d often be sick or hungover,” former staff writer Christina Veta wrote in The Times’ review of the memoir. “Once, Perry passed out on the Central Perk couch and [co-star Matt] LeBlanc had to nudge him awake to say his line. Later, Aniston called him out for drinking again, telling him, ‘We can smell it.’”

Perry told Aniston, “I know I’m drinking too much, but I don’t exactly know what to do about it.”

“In nature, when a penguin is injured, the other penguins group around it and prop it up until it’s better,” he wrote in his memoir. “This is what my costars on Friends did for me. There were times on set when I was extremely hungover, and Jen and Courteney [Cox], being devoted to cardio as a cure-all, had a Lifecycle exercise bike installed backstage. In between rehearsals and takes, I’d head back there and ride that thing like the fires of hell were chasing me — anything to get my brain power back to normal. I was the injured penguin, but I was determined to not let these wonderful people, and this show, down.”

Aniston told Vanity Fair in the new interview, “looking solemn and out toward the ocean” as she spoke about Perry’s death, “As hard as it was for all of us and for the fans, there’s a part of me that thinks this is better. I’m glad he’s out of that pain.”

Perry said in his memoir that amid all his drinking and drug use, he was never suicidal.

“In the back of my mind I always had some semblance of hope. But, if dying was a consequence of getting to take the quantity of drugs I needed, then death was something I was going to have to accept,” he wrote about the period after “Friends” ended.

“That’s how skewed my thinking had become — I was able to hold those two things in my mind at the same time: I don’t want to die, but if I have to in order to get sufficient drugs on board, then amen to oblivion.”

Almost exactly a year after the memoir came out, on Oct. 28, 2024, at 4 in the afternoon, Perry was found dead in a hot tub at his Los Angeles home. The drug ketamine would later emerge as his official cause of death, with drowning a contributing factor.

Some SoCal residents spent their summer at the beach, or at their local rooftop pool; others spent it indoors, hiding from ICE agents.

It’s why Riverside artist Perry Picasshoe spent his summer documenting the melting of 36 ice blocks on sidewalks across the Inland Empire.

He traveled to nine locations, a mix of parks, storefronts and gas stations, where immigration enforcement raids have taken place in the past few weeks. In each spot, he placed four 25-pound ice blocks on the ground and took photos of them as they melted. He would periodically check on the progress, he explained, and found that some were smashed into pieces or completely disappeared.

“I took it as a metaphor of what’s happening,” Picasshoe said, referencing the recent ICE raids taking place across Southern California. “I was also thinking a lot about having these blocks of ice as almost a stand-in for people.”

This latest art piece is just one of the many other Chicano-focused projects that Picasshoe has created in his hometown in the past three years. His goal, among all of the artworks, is to push its residents to reflect on the complexity of the Inland Empire’s Latino identity.

Perry Picasshoe and his father place an ice block near the epicenter of the city’s monthly arts walk in downtown Riverside on July 3, 2025.

(Daniel Hernandez)

Juan Carlos Hernandez Marquez is an emerging Mexican American multidisciplinary artist from Riverside who goes by the stage name Perry Picasshoe. The moniker, which he created as a teenager, is a play on Pablo Picasso’s name mixed with an early 2010s social media term “art hoe.” Under this pseudonym, Picasshoe first gained recognition for creating art that explored the complexities of his dueling identities of being an LGBTQ+ artist while surrounded by traditional Latino ideals.

While studying visual arts at UCLA, he reimagined Sandro Botticelli’s painting “The Birth of Venus” with LGBTQ+ imagery, created a 9-foot-tall Christmas cactus in honor of the time he spent with his father during the holidays and hosted a solo exhibition called “Mystic Garden,” which showcased pieces inspired by flowers given to him by an ex-partner. It’s also where he developed his signature red-dominant style in both his fashion and art.

“Red is my comfort color,” Picasshoe said.

He suffered from occasional panic attacks while studying at UCLA, he explained, which discouraged him from going to school. It continued for months — until he found himself wearing a bright red outfit, which brought him a sense of peace.

“It just kind of grew from there,” he added. “It just followed me everywhere that I went.”

Picasshoe also posted videos showcasing his pieces on social media. Like his artwork, his posts were intricately filmed and edited with bright red accents. They were also accompanied by narration detailing the work’s inspiration, creation process and meaning. His efforts amassed him almost 200,000 followers between TikTok and Instagram.

This rapid growth, both on social media and within his network, brought new opportunities to grow professionally in Los Angeles. Yet after graduating in 2022, he decided to continue his career in his hometown instead.

“It was just a different pace that I was not ready for,” he said. “The art scene out here is much more [based in] community, as opposed to [money] or clout. It’s more of making work that people here will get to enjoy.”

It’s a decision that’s worked in his favor.

This year, he’s been honored by the city at the Mayor’s Ball for the Arts with the Emerging Artist award and recognized as one of UCLA’s top 100 alumni entrepreneurs for 2025. Picasshoe’s decision to be a professional artist within the Inland Empire also came at a time when opportunities for Latino artists in the region have grown in recent years.

Cosme Cordova, long-time Riverside Chicano artist and Division 9 Gallery founder, explained that for decades, Latino artists considered Riverside a “boot camp” instead of a city where they could make a living. They would earn some money in their hometown, then travel to other prominent locations, like Los Angeles or Palm Springs, where artists felt their work was more respected. As the years went on, he said, the local community began to understand the value in supporting its artists.

“Then when the Cheech came, it’s got international attention, so it’s just gotten even better,” Cordova said. “I’m starting to see a lot of artists now more genuinely focused on just trying to showcase their work here in Riverside.”

The most prominent addition within the region has been the Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art and Culture — known colloquially as “the Cheech.” The museum is widely considered the only space in the country that exclusively showcases Latino-made exhibitions, including some of Picasshoe’s work.

Since returning to the Inland Empire, Picasshoe’s artistic vision caught the attention of both community leaders and larger institutions. While hosting one of his first solo exhibitions, called “Red Thoughts,” at the Eastside Arthouse in Riverside, the directors of the Cheech took notice of his unique style.

“They approach their work with abandon, with any medium,” said María Esther Fernández, the center’s artistic director. “They had an installation and it was very interactive and immersive. I think pushing the boundaries of that is really fun and innovative.”

It would lead Picasshoe to work on a wide range of projects in collaboration with the Chicano art center for the next three years.

Perry Picasshoe stands in front of the Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture in Riverside, Calif., on July 3, 2025.

(Daniel Hernandez)

Last year, Picasshoe teamed up with Inland Empire-based artist Emmanuel Camacho Larios to curate an exhibition for the Cheech’s community gallery called “Desde los Cielos.”

“It was a group show that explored what the term ‘alien’ meant in the context of Chicanxs, and alien in the political, the social and the queerness of it all,” Picasshoe said. “I also made a huge painting for that one, the largest that I’ve ever done so far.”

The seven-foot-tall painting, called “Simulacra of Guillermo Hernandez, Beethoven, y los Guachimontones,” depicts his late grandfather sitting on the bed of a pickup truck alongside a small chihuahua. In the background, looming over his abuelo, is a giant circular pyramid built by the Teuchitlán people. A golden pyramid, made from Abuelita Mexican Chocolate bricks, was placed in front of the painting; the bricks were free for the taking during the exhibition’s debut.

After the time for his co-curated exhibition ended, another installation named “Queer Wishes” was featured in the Cheech for an exhibition co-curated by the Eastside Arthouse’s founder and resident artist.

The piece is a three-dimensional black box with a white dress made from bath towels and bedazzled gems displayed on a dress form mannequin inside. Next to the mannequin is a small black vanity desk and mirror with makeup and porcelain wishbones filling the table’s surface.

“The first time I was really able to express myself was when I would get out of the bathroom, put my bath towel on and pretend it was a dress,” Picasshoe said. “I know I’m not the only one with that experience of being in the bathroom and having that be the only time you have to yourself.”

Since debuting the installation at the Cheech, Picasshoe had hoped to take a step back from creating larger community-focused pieces and spend time finalizing some personal projects. However, as immigration enforcement raids ramped up in Southern California, Picasshoe felt the need to create artwork to express his frustration.

Picasshoe and his father drove the family truck to Fontana on July 3 to pick up three translucent ice slabs, each about 40 inches tall and weighing around 300 pounds, and brought them back to downtown Riverside.

They arrived 45 minutes before the start of the city’s monthly arts walk, an event where dozens of local vendors set up booths to sell their artwork to hundreds of residents.

Picasshoe and his father slowly unloaded the slabs from the truck’s bed onto a dolly and wheeled the installations out into the three chosen locations: the front of the Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art and Culture, the epicenter of the city’s monthly arts walk event and the front of the Riverside County Superior Court.

A wooden platform was placed under each slab, with the words “life,” “liberty” and “the pursuit of happiness,” written upside down and divided between the three art pieces, along with a QR code explaining its meaning.

He chose this day, he said, because of its high foot traffic. It was the best opportunity to help some passersby feel represented while confronting others with a hard truth.

“Art should be lived in,” Picasshoe said. “It’s prevalent in a lot of my work, and especially this one, since it’s meant to be commenting on something regarding the public.”

One of the physicians who supplied ketamine to “Friends” star Matthew Perry appeared in a Los Angeles federal court Wednesday morning to plead guilty to multiple drug charges connected to the actor’s death.

Dr. Salvador Plasencia, known to Perry as “Dr. P.,” according to prosecutors, pleaded guilty to four felony counts of ketamine distribution. Plasencia, 43, supplied the drug to Perry through his live-in assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, one of three defendants who pleaded guilty last year to their own connected charges.

“While Dr. Plasencia was not treating Mr. Perry at the time of his death, he hopes his case serves as a warning to other medical professionals and leads to stricter oversight and clear protocols for the rapidly growing at-home ketamine industry in order to prevent future tragedies like this one,” his lawyer, Karen L. Goldstein, said in a statement.

Goldstein said her client was “profoundly remorseful” for his role in supplying ketamine to Perry, who was vulnerable due to his history of addiction.

The doctor agreed in addition to the plea deal signed last month to give up his medical license within the next 30 to 45 days.

Plasencia faces up to 40 years in prison along with $2 million in fines. His voice was quiet during the hearing Wednesday, with Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett asking him to speak up as he relinquished his right to a jury trial.

Perry, 54, who was found in his Pacific Palisades home’s hot tub in October 2023, died from the acute effects of ketamine. Authorities allege the actor’s final dose, injected by Iwamasa, was sourced from the “Ketamine Queen” Jasveen Sangha, who pleaded not guilty and has a trial date set for Aug. 19.

Plasencia dabbed his face repeatedly with a cloth as prosecutors read out the charges, detailing how he sold the drug to Perry for thousands of dollars, sometimes administering it in the back of cars in parking lots.

Plasencia will remain out on bail until his sentencing on Dec. 3 on request from his defense lawyer, who argued that he is one of the primary caretakers of a 2-year-old son.

His Calabasas urgent care clinic, which remains open, requires patients to sign waivers that explain the charges against him.

Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez are officially husband and wife.

The Amazon founder, who’s been linked to Sánchez since 2019, hosted an extravagant, reportedly $50-million celebration in Venice, Italy, stretching three days. From the lavish location to the celebrity guest list, the event has attracted a media frenzy, but also experienced its fair share of hiccups — including a last-minute venue change to the island of San Giorgio Maggiore.

Here’s what we know about the wedding so far.

The wedding dress

Sánchez opted for a custom Dolce & Gabbana wedding gown inspired by Sophia Loren’s gown in the 1958 film “Houseboat.” This marks the first time Sánchez has worn such a high-necked formal dress, she told Vogue.

“It is a departure from what people expect,” she said, “from what I expect — but it’s very much me.”

The bride shared two images of her dress Friday on Instagram, where she also updated her handle to @laurensanchezbezos.

Other ensembles planned for the big day were a corseted gown inspired by the Rita Hayworth film “Gilda” and an Oscar de la Renta cocktail dress with 175,000 crystals, according to Vogue.

Lauren Sánchez departs from her hotel in Venice for pre-wedding celebrations.

(Antonio Calanni / AP)

Something Blue Origin

Sánchez’s “something borrowed” was a pair of Dolce & Gabbana Alta Gioielleria Miracolo earrings, according to Vogue. And her “something blue,” she revealed, was a souvenir she brought on her controversial 11-minute Blue Origin spaceflight.

“It was literally one of the most profound experiences I’ve ever had in my life,” she told Vogue. “Jeff said, ‘It’s gonna change you more than you think,’ and it completely has, visually, spiritually.”

Kim and Khloé Kardashian were among the celebrities who attended Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez’s wedding.

(Luigi Costantini / AP)

A star-studded guest list

As expected, several A-listers made the 200-person guest list.

Notably, Orlando Bloom arrived solo after reportedly ending his engagement with Katy Perry. Sánchez seemed to acknowledge Perry’s absence, commenting, “We miss you Katy,” Friday on the pop star’s Instagram. Perry famously joined Sánchez on the Blue Origin space flight and has received a disproportionate amount of the criticism.

Though President Trump was not present (despite reports that he received an invitation), his daughter Ivanka Trump and Ivanka’s husband, Jared Kushner, were in attendance, along with in-laws Karlie Kloss and Joshua Kushner.

Other celebrities in attendance were Kim and Khloé Kardashian; Kris, Kylie and Kendall Jenner; Bill Gates and Paula Hurd; Sydney Sweeney; Tom Brady; Leonardo DiCaprio; Usher; Eva Longoria and José Bastón; Diane von Furstenberg and Barry Diller; Oprah Winfrey; and Gayle King, who was also aboard the Blue Origin spaceflight.

Though President Trump wasn’t present, his daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, attended the wedding.

(Luigi Costantini / AP)

Protests and criticism

The lavish celebration was not without its critics. The No Space for Bezos movement — a combination of anti-cruise ship campaigners, university groups and housing advocates — staged protests throughout Venice leading up to the event, even planning to obstruct canal access to prevent wedding guests from reaching the venue, according to the Associated Press. The newlyweds reportedly had to make an eleventh hour venue change, opting for the more secluded and secure Arsenale for the Saturday reception, according to local media.

Tyler Perry is facing legal backlash to the tune of $260 million from an actor who appeared in his BET drama “The Oval” and is accusing the media mogul of quid pro quo sexual harassment, sexual battery and retaliation, among other counts.

Perry’s accuser, actor Derek Dixon, filed his lawsuit against the billionaire film and TV producer in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Friday. The actor claims Perry leveraged his power and standing in entertainment “to create a coercive, sexually exploitative dynamic with Mr. Dixon — initially promising him career advancement and creative opportunities,” according to court documents reviewed by The Times. Tyler Perry Studios and the And Action production company are listed as co-defendants.

“This is an individual who got close to Tyler Perry for what now appears to be nothing more than setting up a scam,” Perry’s attorney Matthew Boyd said in a statement to The Times. “But Tyler will not be shaken down and we are confident these fabricated claims of harassment will fail.”

In his 46-page complaint, Dixon says he met the “House of Payne” creator in September 2019 when he was working as event staff for one of Perry’s parties. The multi-hyphenate entertainer offered Dixon the chance to audition for his show “Ruthless” a month after their first meeting. Perry claimed he would “change [Plaintiff’s] life” and offered him a small role in the TV series, “setting up the first stage in a series of escalating quid pro quo offers,” the lawsuit alleges.

From January 2020 to June 2024, Perry “sustained a pattern of workplace sexual harassment, assault and retaliation,” the lawsuit alleges. Dixon appeared in 85 episodes of Perry’s presidential drama “The Oval” from 2021 to 2025, according to IMDb.

Dixon accused Perry of relentlessly probing him about his sex life, making suggestive comments and expressing jealousy about his interactions with other men during the duration of their work together. The complaint features multiple screenshots of alleged conversations between Dixon and the media mogul, including messages in which the director asks “What’s it going to take for you to have guiltless sex?” and likens the actor to a rose but says he is “so blocked that you refuse to be smelt [sic] or opened.”

The lawsuit — which evokes cases against Harvey Weinstein, Bill Cosby, Kevin Spacey and other high-profile Hollywood figures accused of sexual harassment — also details multiple occasions where Perry allegedly groped the actor. The first was in January 2020 when Dixon stayed the night in a guest room at Perry’s home in Georgia and allegedly felt Perry “slip into bed behind him and start rubbing Dixon’s body around his inner thigh in a highly sexual and suggestive manner.” Dixon also accuses Perry of “violently” grabbing his throat in March 2020, groping his buttocks in a trailer later that year, and pulling down his underwear and groping his buttocks again in June 2021.

The complaint underscores that Dixon repeatedly refused Perry’s advances and walked a fine line, keeping his interactions with Perry professional but friendly enough to remain in his good graces. He claims the threat of Perry killing off his character constantly loomed over his “Oval” tenure. In addition to casting Dixon in his series, Perry also expressed interest in helping the actor develop a show, the lawsuit says.

Dixon distanced himself from Perry after the alleged June 2021 assault, the lawsuit says, but the producer’s “fixers” reached out with a new storyline for his “Oval” character and a pay raise. They also allegedly told Dixon he could not tell his castmates about the new perks.

Perry allegedly continued to ask Dixon about his sex life through the years that followed and in March 2024 plans to pitch Dixon’s show began to fall apart. After Perry offered Dixon a writing spot on one of his series in June 2024, Dixon “woke up and realized Perry was never going to be serious about helping Dixon” grow his career, the lawsuit says.

Dixon claims he reported the alleged sexual harassment to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission but the complaint was not investigated. Dixon left “The Oval” and Perry allegedly retaliated by telling Dixon he could say only that he was taking medical leave. “Defendant made the leave of absence unpaid and therefore terminated Plaintiff’s employment causing Dixon additional loss of income and insult,” the suit says.

The lawsuit also includes allegations of work environment harassment, workplace gender violence, sexual assault, negligent retention and intentional infliction of emotional distress.