U.S. Army veteran and actor Braxton Wells has publicly accused the Vice President of Tyler Perry Studios, Mark E. Swinton, of drugging him and raping him three years ago, then attempting to silence him with a financial bribe and non-disclosure agreement.
The allegation from Wells, which was shared on Instagram last Sunday, comes just weeks after fellow actor Derek Dixon filed a lawsuit against Swinton’s boss and professed Christian, Tyler Perry, accusing him of aggressively sexually assaulting and harassing him. Dixon is seeking $260 million in damages.
Dixon, who is gay, told The Hollywood Reporter that since he went public with his claims against Perry, he has received both threats and messages of support, as well as stories from others who claim they had similar experiences with Perry.
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“This is why people, especially men, don’t come forward,” Dixon says of the harassment he has faced since going public with his claims.
Both Wells and Dixon have appeared in Perry’s “The Oval” series on BET. Wells, who says he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, details his claims against Swinton and others in multiple posts on Instagram.
In one post in which he includes a photo of Perry and Swinton together, Wells accuses Perry of enabling his abuser while quoting Isaiah 8:20, which states: “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.”
“I speak today not just for myself, but for every soul silenced by power, fame, and fear. Mark E. Swinton, you groomed and raped me while I was under your influence, flying me from Los Angeles to Georgia under false pretenses. You abused your position as Vice President of Tyler Perry Studios — a company that claims to stand for faith — to commit unspeakable evil behind closed doors,” Wells wrote on Instagram.
“Tyler Perry, you built your empire on the image of a God-fearing man, yet when darkness crept in through your own executive, you chose silence. You retained a predator in your house and helped cover it up, protecting your brand over a broken human life. That’s not faith — that’s fraud.
Yahweh Elohim sees all. He is not mocked.”
Wells reshared the allegations against Swinton, which he previously posted in 2024, alleging that he was brutally raped. He also claimed that he reported the alleged crime to the Roswell Police Department in Georgia.
The Christian Post reached out to both the detective who Wells said is working on the case, and Tyler Perry Studios for comment. Neither party was able to immediately provide a response.
Wells alleges that on the night of Jan. 5, 2022, after having dinner with Swinton that included several drinks at a restaurant called Marcel in Atlanta, Georgia, he traveled with Swinton to his home, where he was served another drink. He said after consuming the drink at Swinton’s home, “I started feeling weird.”
“All I remember he took me upstairs up in his room and he had another room and watching another movie and gave me another drink and [I] felt extra unbalanced and I was not coherent and I couldn’t fight anyone. I felt tranquilized and I know he put something in my drink,” Wells wrote on Instagram.
“And he started trying to kiss my neck and kiss me and I told him to stop and he told me no it’s ok and I got you. Don’t worry. Come in my room,” he recalls.
“I couldn’t move at all. I felt like my whole body was paralyzed. And then he started taking my clothes off and turn me around and I couldn’t move. And [he] started putting Vaseline on my anus area and started driving his penis in my anus and I couldn’t move and I couldn’t get him off of me. And I started hurting and then I blacked out and I don’t remember what else he did to me after that!” Wells alleges.
He said the following morning, Swinton told him he had sent him $6,000 on Apple Pay for his silence.
“I was lost for words and I was extremely mad and embarrassed. I told him I need to take a shower and I notice I was wiping myself in the shower. I had Vaseline on me and blood mix[ed] together on the washcloth. And I was breaking down crying in the shower and I didn’t know what to do,” Wells recalls.
“I came to the realization that I was raped by Mark E. Swinton and I was afraid to speak up about this situation for two years because I thought I was going to be blackballed from Hollywood. … I left his crib and got me a hotel in Buckhead and going through this dramatic experience it made my PTSD worse and my mental health was worse since I’m a retired veteran in the army and I’ve been suicidal all this time.”
Responding to Dixon’s lawsuit last month, Matthew Boyd, a lawyer for Perry, called Dixon an “individual who got close to Tyler Perry for what now appears to be nothing more than setting up a scam,” in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter.
“Tyler will not be shaken down and we are confident these fabricated claims of harassment will fail,” Boyd said.
That lawsuit, which also names TPS Production Services, LLC, And Action LLC, and Does 1-50 as defendants, accuses Perry of quid pro quo sexual harassment; work environment harassment; sexual harassment; workplace gender violence; violation of the Bane Act; sexual battery; sexual assault; negligent retention; intentional infliction of emotional distress; and retaliation.
Perry, who in 2018 told congregants at Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church that he was once a minister and went to seminary, started his media empire marketing plays in the black church. He is known for highlighting storylines featuring struggling black women.
The lawsuit paints Perry as a sexual predator who lures and entraps his targets with the promise of fame and success in the film industry.
Dixon alleges that Perry tried to pressure him to engage in “guiltless sex” while he worked for him. The filing claims the media mogul told Dixon he has sex with men and stated in a text message that: “You can have freedom from religious guilt and still believe in Christ.”
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