The Internet Assumed Tyler Perry Was the Billionaire Christian Keyes Said Sexually Assaulted Him, but Did Keyes Hint That Wasn’t The Case?

Now that it has been a few weeks since Black Hollywood exploded, we’ve had time to breathe and to stop jumping to conclusions. A previous opinion piece in The Root suggested that Keyes allowed the public to throw several innocent men under the bus by not revealing his abuser.

While we don’t know who was the billionnaire Keyes said sexually assaulted him, we wonder could one of the people the actor and writer threw under the bus, intentionally or not, be Tyler Perry? None of us really know the truth but Keyes and the powerful man he won’t name. However, let’s take a look back to see if Keyes provided any clues to who was innocent.

How It All Started

After actor Christian Keyes’ explosive hour and a half-long Instagram Live where he talked about being sexually assaulted by three people—including a “powerful man” who is a billionaire—social media went into overdrive trying to guess whom those people could be. The name that kept coming back to everyone’s lips on Black Twitter was entertainment mogul Tyler Perry, whom Keyes worked with consistently throughout his career—and currently.

Throughout the video, which included a prayer, Keyes went into detail about his experiences with the three people, none of whom he mentions by name. One of the people is a woman, he said.

As for the billionaire, Keyes said they were gay with a distinctive voice and was allegedly honored with a documentary on Prime Video, is leaving social media—specially Twitter, TikTok, and YouTube split on both sides. Here’s why:

Keyes liked a post on X, formerly Twitter, in support of Tyler Perry not being the “powerful man” behind those sexual assault allegations. Perry is the producer of “All the Queen’s Men,” a show based off a novel Keyes wrote, so social media users have been trying to pin the allegations on anyone close to Keyes.

But other social media users think everyone is jumping to conclusions too soon.

“Watching Christian Keyes & can tell he is clearly a victim...only $3 grand to his name & violated by a gay billionaire 🥺 & no I don’t believe it was TP...I wish Christian would have taken action...that man will still have his money & good name & Christian will remain broken,” wrote one social media user.

But then, during an episode of Tea-GIF hosted by Claudia Jordan, a friend of Keyes’ who said that the actor had discussed his experiences with her over 15 years ago, she said, “Yeah a lot of y’all said the name, and I’ll just leave it at that.”

Whose name, Claudia?

Jordan was one of the first people to support Keyes when he posted his video, and a live she posted herself, urging people to stop shaming victims—especially male victims.

Seeing how quickly Diddy settled a $30 million-lawsuit filed by Cassie has many social media users wondering if Keyes is seeking a potential settlement of the same nature. Cassie has not disclosed the amount of the settlement, but, but popular vlogger Tisa Tells seems to think that Keyes is using the video as a negotiating tactic.

As of today, there is no solid evidence to suggest Keyes was referring to Perry, and the mogul has not released a statement in response to fan and social media allegations.