Tyler Perry wants a court to keep private text messages away from Mario Rodriguez, the actor suing him for $77 million over alleged sexual assault. TMZ reported the new filing on Thursday, October 29, 2026, and Baller Alert followed the same day.
Tyler Perry Private Texts Filing Targets Associates’ Messages
According to court documents TMZ obtained, Perry says he handed over the messages during the legal fight with Rodriguez. He says he did so on the understanding that they would stay confidential. The texts, which Perry exchanged with associates, include discussion of financial matters, TMZ reported.
Perry argues the people in those conversations believed the exchanges were private and that the messages have nothing to do with the case. He also says releasing them would cause “unnecessary annoyance and embarrassment,” per TMZ. Baller Alert’s account adds that Perry’s side describes the messages as involving people who are not defendants and as covered by an earlier confidentiality agreement. That account says Perry argues the participants held “a reasonable expectation of privacy.”
The reporting draws a line around who sees the texts. Baller Alert reads Perry’s position as a request to keep the messages confidential, not to withhold them from Rodriguez’s lawyers. TMZ said Rodriguez had not yet answered the filing. Neither outlet named the judge, and TMZ gave no case number or filing date, so the docket itself remains unconfirmed in the coverage reviewed.
Mario Rodriguez’s $77 Million Lawsuit Against Perry
TMZ first reported Rodriguez’s suit on December 26, 2025. Baller Alert says he filed the complaint that day in Los Angeles Superior Court. The Associated Press, in a December 29 report carried by News4Jax, said he filed about a week earlier. The accounts do not match on the filing date, and none of the pieces reviewed cites a case number. The complaint lists sexual assault, sexual battery, and intentional infliction of emotional distress, according to Baller Alert and the AP. Rodriguez seeks at least $77 million. Baller Alert says the film distributor Lionsgate also appears as a defendant. Rodriguez acted in Perry’s film Boo! A Madea Halloween.
The sources differ on the timeline of the alleged conduct. TMZ says Rodriguez met Perry at a gym in 2015, which led to the film role. Rodriguez alleges a 2018 assault at Perry’s home, after which he says Perry gave him $5,000 and apologized. The AP says the suit alleges encounters between 2014 and 2019 and that Rodriguez cut off contact in 2019, though Perry reached out from time to time afterward. Baller Alert dates the film to 2016. These claims remain allegations, and no court has ruled on them.
Perry’s Denial and the Text Messages That Surfaced Earlier
Perry and his company deny wrongdoing. Attorney Alex Spiro called the case a “shakedown,” according to TMZ, and told the AP it was “nothing but a $77 million money grab scam.” Perry’s side says Rodriguez stayed in touch after the alleged incidents and turned on Perry only after financial help stopped.
Texts have shaped this case before. In December 2025, the AP reported that it had seen screenshots, obtained from an anonymous source, in which Rodriguez reached out to Perry around Thanksgiving 2024 and again on August 31, 2025. In the first, he thanked Perry for help through hard periods. In the second, he described health problems, a lack of insurance, and financial struggle, the AP said.
Rodriguez’s attorney, Jonathan Delshad, answered that continued contact and financial support do not contradict abuse and can reflect power dynamics. He said that when someone controls your career and income, “you don’t feel free,” per the AP. The new dispute covers a different set of messages. Those earlier screenshots showed Rodriguez’s own words. This filing concerns messages between Perry and other people, which Perry himself says he produced to Rodriguez’s side.
What to Watch Next in the Perry Case
The next step is Rodriguez’s response, which TMZ said had not been filed when it published. A judge would then have to decide how far the confidentiality protections reach and whether any of the associates’ messages become part of the public record. Earlier skirmishes show a pattern of fights over what Rodriguez can ask and see.
TMZ’s related coverage points to an April 14, 2026 dispute over whether Perry must answer deposition questions about his sexuality, a June 19 report in which Perry denied refusing to answer them, and a July 14 report that Rodriguez floated a multimillion-dollar settlement. The October 29 article does not detail those items, and the settlement claim here rests only on a headline reference in TMZ’s pages. Baller Alert says Rodriguez’s team called the deposition questions relevant while Perry’s attorneys challenged their scope.
Perry faces a separate suit from actor Derek Dixon, who filed in June 2025, according to the AP’s December report. Dixon alleges Perry groped him while he worked on The Oval and Ruthless. The case moved from California state court to federal court in Georgia, and Perry denies the allegations. Delshad represents both men.
