Joshua Sole files $10M suit against Tyler Perry

TheJasmineBrand.com reports that Joshua Sole filed a $10 million lawsuit against Tyler Perry, Tyler Perry Studios and his supervisor Brett Hendrix in May. The suit, the site notes, involves accusations that the entertainment mogul allowed sexual harassment by Hendrix while Sole was employed as a production assistant with Tyler Perry Studios.

The employee stated that he started working at the Studios in August 2014. It was during this time Sole claimed that Hendrix would inappropriately touch him, call him “baby,” tell him he missed him and offer him drugs in anticipation of sexual favors. As a result, Sole labeled Hendrix’s actions as unwarranted and resisted him.

Sole goes on to accuse Hendrix of sending him texts that pertained to a sexual nature and asking him to stay with him at his home. After Sole complained about the unwanted sexual advances, the suit stated that he ended up losing his seniority, being suspended from his employment, somehow arrested for no reason and eventually fired. The retaliation against Sole caused him to suffer mental anguish and loss of income, Sole claims.

News of Sole’s lawsuit comes amid a lawsuit Perry filed to demand a restraining order against Sole after the ex-employee allegedly stalked the entertainment mogul by disabling the alarms and security equipment at the studio and climbing through the ceiling panels as he barricaded himself in Tyler Perry Studios office s in October. A police report on the incident referenced claims from employees that Sole refused to leave the studio without having a conversation with Perry.

Responding to Perry’s lawsuit, Sole’s attorney denied his client had ever harassed the entertainer and claimed that Sole was wrongfully accused and never trespassed or broke into the studios.

In all, Sole is demanding $ 10 million dollars in damages.

Perry responded to Sole’s via lawsuit as he put him on blast, saying that Hendrix was never an employee of Tyler Perry Studios. In light of that, Perry says that Sole can’t sue them for Hendrix’s alleged actions.

Sources: TMZ.com, CNN.com, The Jasmine Brand, CBS 46