Terry Crews has appeared in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee to testify about his own story of sexual assault and to advocate for the Sexual As
Terry Crews has appeared in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee to testify about his own story of sexual assault and to advocate for the Sexual Assault Survivors’ Bill of Rights which would codify certain rights for people reporting assault, like having their rape kits preserved and forensic testing subsidized, in all 50 states.
“This past year we have seen powerful men in Hollywood and elsewhere finally held accountable for sexual assault,” Terry Crews said in his opening statement. “We also saw the backlash survivors faced coming forward. I wanted these survivors to know that I believed them, I supported them, and that this happened to me too.”
In reporting his assault, Crews said, “I heard time and time again about the rights that my predator had, but I was never told about the rights I had as a survivor. That was the wake-up call. I knew I had to be part of what was happening here today in regard to the Sexual Assault Survivor Bill of Rights.” He added, “If you know what you can do, you can actually do something about it.”
Crews said he was at a party in 2016 when the head of the motion picture department at his then-agency, twice grabbed his genitals in front of his wife. His first reaction, Crews said, “was to be violent and I immediately held back.” Asked why, the former linebacker had a ready reply. “As a black man in America,” he said, “you only have a few shots at success, you only have a few chances to make yourself a viable member of the community. I’m from Flint, Michigan. I have seen many young black men who were provoked into violence: They were in prison or they were killed. They’re not here.”
Crews said it was his wife who counseled restraint, telling him if he ever had anyone try to push him into any situation, don’t do it — but don’t give up, Crews recalled. “She trained me and told me if this situation happens, let’s leave,” he said, “and the training worked because I did not go into my first reaction. The training worked. But the next day I went right to the agency and — I have texts, I have my own conversations — and I told them this is unacceptable.”
And when he asked the agency what they were going to do about the “predator, Adam Venit, roaming your halls,” Crews said he was given every assurance, “and then they disappeared.” “The assault lasted only minutes, but what he was effectively telling me while he held my genitals in his hand was that he held the power. That he was in control,” Crews said of the encounter with Venit.
The experience “encouraged me to come forward with my own experience and reflect on the cult of toxic masculinity,” he explained.
“I’m not a small or insecure man but in that moment and in the time that followed I’ve never felt more emasculated,” Crews said. Watching women step forward as part of the #MeToo movement, he added, “this shame washed over me again and again and I knew I had to act.” And speak out he has — both as a victim and a man in a position to do something about it.
“I have to say the silence is deafening when it comes to men coming forward,” he said. “As I told my story I was told over and over that this was not abuse. That this was a joke. That this was just horseplay. But one man’s horseplay is another’s humiliation.”
And though he went to Congress as one man, Terry Crews insisted he stands on the proverbial shoulders of many. “I sit here before you just as an example because a lot of people don’t believe that a person like me could actually be victimized, and what happened to me has happened to many, many other men in Hollywood, and since I came forward with my story I’ve had thousands and thousands of men come to me and say, ‘Me too — this is my story.’”
Earlier in the year, Terry Crews implied that he was being pressured to drop his sexual assault lawsuit if he wants to avoid problems on ‘The Expendables 4’. Terry has starred in all three ‘Expendable’ movies without incident, but he said he received a phone call saying there might be “problems” on the sequel.
“Management got a call last week from Avi Lerner producer of EXPENDABLES 4 saying I could avoid any ‘problems’ on the sequel if I dropped my case against Adam Venit who’s Sly’s agent.”
Obviously the “problems” being implied here appears as though the powers that be would like Crews to drop his lawsuit lest his time on the upcoming movie be made more difficult in some vague, potentially nefarious way.The ‘Sly’ in this case is, of course, Sylvester Stallone, who’s been the face of the ‘Expendables’ franchise since its inception. He’s starred in all three movies thus far, and directed the first installment as well.
