‘All My Support Came From Black Women,’ Says Actor Terry Crews

When actor Terry Crews revealed that he was the victim of sexual assault by a “high-level Hollywood executive,” he said Black men shunned him, while Black women supported him.


The “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” actor and married father of five has said that talent agent Adam Venit grabbed his crotch in front of his wife at a Hollywood party in 2016.

Crews, a former NFL player, detailed in a series of tweets, in 2017, that he did not initially retaliate against Venit or speak out about what happened in fear of being ostracized. But he said he was encouraged to share his story in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal. Crews filed charges against Venit, and the lawsuit was settled in September.

In an interview that aired on Sunday, he shared that, during that time, he didn’t receive much support from Black men, but Black women stood by him.

“To be honest with you, when it first happened, there was none [no support] for a long time,” he said on Bravo’s “Watch What Happens Live.”

“The people who surprised me the most were Black women.”

“Black men did not want any part of it,” he continued. “All my support came from Black women. Straight up.

“That’s kind of wild. It shocked me. It shocked my family.

“I thought, here I am as a Black man saying some things that we’ve all been through. A lot of guys were just like, ‘Man, you weak. You sorry. You should have hit him. You should’ve knocked him out. You should have did all this stuff,'” he said.

In June, Crews testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee, detailing his sexual assault experience. He was advocating for the expansion of the Sexual Assault Survivors’ Bill of Rights.

In response, actor/rapper 50 Cent mocked him on Instagram. He posted a photo, showing Crews topless with the words “I got raped, my wife just watched” superimposed over it. And a second photo of Crews with a rose in his mouth and the words “Gym time.”

“LOL, What the f*** is going on out here man,” 50 Cent wrote in the caption. “Terry: l froze in fear, they would have had to take me to jail. Get the strap.”

Crews said, in regard to hitting Venit after the assault, “Black women were like, ‘No, no, it doesn’t work like that.'”

He added, “I was shocked at the split within my own community. It was deep.”


Terry Crews Got Support From Black Women But Not Black Men | WWHL

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