LOS ANGELES — Text messages show that Tyler Perry and the actor “Boo! Madea's Halloween” Mario Rodriguez, who recently filed a lawsuit accusing the director of sexual assault, continued to communicate years after Rodriguez said their interaction had ended.
Rodriguez alleges in a lawsuit filed last week in California that Perry assaulted him during encounters that occurred between 2014 and 2019. The lawsuit says Rodriguez cut off contact with Perry in 2019, although Perry contacted him periodically thereafter. But screenshots of text messages obtained by The Associated Press on Sunday evening show Rodriguez initiated contact with Perry as recently as Thanksgiving 2024 and again on Aug. 31, 2025, expressing gratitude, friendship and financial hardship.
In one message sent on Thanksgiving Day, Rodriguez thanked Perry for helping him through a difficult time in his life and wrote that he appreciated him “to the moon,” according to screenshots. In another series of messages on Aug. 31, Rodriguez described ongoing health problems, said he did not have health insurance and told Perry he was scared and struggling financially.
The messages were provided to the AP by a source close to the situation, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
Rodriguez responded in a statement Monday.
“When someone has influence over your career, your income, your future, you do not feel free,” Rodriguez said in a statement released through his lawyer Jonathan Delshad. “Survivors often remain cordial. They often ask for help when they feel desperate. This does not mean that violence did not occur. These text messages were sent by Perry at a time when I was particularly vulnerable, as the context suggests.”
He added: “Ongoing financial support and access are not incompatible with abuse – they are often part of the power dynamics that follow. In many exploitative situations, money can function as a way to cope with guilt, avoid conflict or remain silent.”
Perry's attorney, Alex Spiro, disputed the allegations in Rodriguez's lawsuit.
“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again,” Spiro said in a statement. “This is nothing more than a fraud to extort money to the tune of $77 million.”
The lawsuit seeks at least $77 million in damages and accuses Perry of sexual assault, sexual battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Perry denied the allegations.
The AP generally does not name people who say they have been sexually assaulted unless they come forward publicly, as Rodriguez did.
The lawsuit follows a separate case filed in June by the actor. Derek Dixon, who claimed that Perry groped him while Dixon was working on Perry's television series The Oval and Ruthless. That lawsuit, also filed by Delshad, was initially filed in California state court and later transferred to federal court in Georgia, where Perry is based. Perry also denied Dixon's allegations.
