In 2025, Tyler Perry will have to deal with a second sexual assault lawsuit. New information has come to light, including text messages that the filmmaker and his accuser are said to have exchanged.

Actor Mario Rodriguez filed the civil suit on December 25. He is asking for $77 million in damages and says Perry sexually assaulted him, sexually battered him, and intentionally caused him emotional distress.

HotNewHipHop reports that Rodriguez says Perry made several unwanted advances over a period of years, with the last one happening in April 2019. One of the claims says that the person who made Madea grabbed his genitals. Rodriguez also says that Perry kept in touch with him on and off until 2024.

According to PEOPLE and TMZ, the accuser says Perry "randomly reach[ed] out to" him long after the supposed incidents had ended.

One of the messages says, "Just know that I love you and I thank you for everything. I appreciate you to the moon." One of the messages says, "You got my Mexican a*s out of a lot of bad places and I just wanna tell you thank you."

A post shared by instagram

Perry is said to have said, "Happy Thanksgiving my friend. Yeap you've been through it. I'm glad you're doing well. You don't have to give me a thing or pay me a thing. I'm just glad you're good."

The reports say that the alleged communication didn't stop there. Rodriguez is said to have sent more messages in August 2025 saying he was having money problems and health problems.

There is a neutral introduction before another text that is said to be true. One message says, "Brother haven't been feeling OK confused and lil nauseous. I got blood work thinks its my teeth. I know it's none of your business idk what do I know I promised you I would never ask you for anything, but if it what I think it is, I don't think I could do it on my own because I barely pay my bills scared af."

He is said to have said, "I don't want to get sepsis like my dad and pass away I don't even wanna mention it because I don't wanna make it real."

According to the screenshots mentioned, it doesn't look like Perry replied to those messages. Rodriguez says in the lawsuit that he met Perry in 2015 through a trainer at a gym in Los Angeles. This meeting later resulted in Rodriguez securing a small role in "Boo! A Halloween with Madea."

Before Perry's representative responds, there is a neutral introduction. "This is nothing but a 77-million-dollar money grab scam," said Alex Spiro, Perry's representative.