Some of Hollywood may not agree with Terry Crews’ decision to come forward with sexual misconduct allegations, but he doesn’t care.
“I walk in the room, and the room is split right down the middle,” the actor told BuzzFeed in a story published Thursday. “It just divides right there. It’s kind of like lightning.”
In October, the “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” star, 49, accused WME agent Adam Venit of groping him at an industry event in 2016 via a string of tweets that sent shockwaves through Hollywood. The next month, he filed a police report and in December, he sued both the agent and agency.
“I was on the set [of ‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’], shaking,” he told the website of sharing the allegations. “I didn’t call my publicist, I didn’t call my friends, I didn’t call my manager, I didn’t call my wife. I just started tweeting.”
Crews, who has said he was inspired by the numerous women who have come forward to recount their own tales of abuse, claims he was encouraged to stay quiet by a number of people he knew in the industry, including, he alleges, Avi Lerner, a producer for the “Expendables” movies (Lerner did not respond to BuzzFeed’s request for comment). But he knew he had to speak out.
“People don’t understand that Hollywood is a very violent place,” he said. “The best way to put it is that it’s like a plantation. You use extreme violence. You see a lot of people who never work again. For even speaking up the whole thing is that they cut your head off so that the next person doesn’t speak.”
Last week, the LAPD announced it would not charging Venit following an investigation into Crews’ allegations. But the actor’s lawsuit is still ongoing.
Crews knows that like the women who’ve come before him he might face consequences for breaking his silence, but he’s accepted that and is ready to move forward.
“What I’ve been doing is just exposing. If this is the end of my career, just end it now,” he said. “Cause I’m gonna keep living, I’m gonna keep doing my thing. But if I don’t do another ‘Expendables,’ then let’s not do another one. I’m OK with that.”