When Terry Crews Broke Stereotypes And Spoke About Experiencing Sexual Assault

Former American football player and actor Terry Crews celebrates his 54th birthday today. Known for his roles as Julius Rock in the sitcom Everybody Hates Chris and Terry Jeffords in Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Crews has cemented himself as an advocate for women’s rights and has been vocal about his own experience with sexually inappropriate behaviour on multiple occasions.

In the wake of many Hollywood actors opening up about enduring sexual assault and harassment, Terry Crews too shared that he had a similar experience. In 2017, he took to Twitter and shared that the accusations of sexual harassment and assault against producer Harvey Weinstein were giving him PTSD because “this kind of thing happened to me”.

Crews revealed how in 2016, a male executive groped him in front of his wife Rebecca King at an industry function. He did not name his assailant and said he did not retaliate because he did not want to be ostracised.

When Terry Crews Supported MeToo Movement

Crews said that the experience helped him empathise with people who remained silent, but added that Weinstein is not the only perpetrator. He said that by being vocal about his experiences, he hoped to “deter a predator and encourage someone who feels hopeless”.

In an interview with Good Morning America, Crews named talent manager Adam Venit as his assailant. He recounted, “I have never felt more emasculated, more objectified. I was horrified,” said Crews. He filed a police report over the incident and said, “People need to be held accountable”.

Terry Crews also spoke out against the “blame the victim” mentality. He said, “I will not be shamed. I did nothing wrong. Nothing.”

For coming forward with his sexual assault allegations against Adam Venit, Crews was named as a Silence Breaker among the TIME's Person of the Year 2017- a title that jointly went survivors who started the MeToo Movement.

In an interview, Crew revealed that he chose to speak out after seeing people on social media making jokes about one of the women who accused Weinstein. Crew said he saw a comment claiming that the woman was looking for attention and a payday and pulled out his phone and began tweeting.

Crews said, “I was really angry because these women were being discounted. These women were being discarded… I wanted to say something. I wanted to support. But I did have to let these women know they weren’t alone. And that I understood.”

Terry Crews knew he would be mocked and ridiculed for being vocal about his experience with sexual assault, but he took the step anyway to support the countless other women who were being victim-blamed.

Many celebrities armed with toxic notions about masculinity decided that instead of supporting Crews, they should make crass 'jokes' as his expense and shame him for not physically assaulting his abuser, despite his built. Comedian DL Hughley commented that he could not believe that Crews couldn't tell his abuser "no" even "with all those muscles".

Meanwhile, Rapper 50 Cent shared a meme with a picture of Crews with the text "I got raped, my wife just watched", and then an image of the actor with a rose in his mouth with the text "Gym time".

Crews had accurately predicted that people would attempt to emasculate him and victim-blame him. Even then, he chose to speak up about his experience and support the women that had spoken against Weinstein. In doing so he broke the stigma that men never endure sexual abuse. The trolling he underwent further proved how difficult it is for men to come out as survivors of sexual crimes. Crew's courage is something that needs to be celebrated every time we talk about Me Too Movement.

Suggested Reading: 50 Cent Mocked Terry Crews Because Of Inherent Toxic Masculinity