Terry Crews has become one of the strongest advocates against sexual assault and harassment over the past year. In the first six weeks of 2018, Crews made headlines when he revealed an instance in which he was sexually assaulted at a party by WME’s Adam Venit. As recently as last week, Terry Crews took time during his interview with The Breakfast Club to address the topic of sexual assault as it relates to him and all actors in Hollywood. During the interview, Crews stated, “They want me to accept to myself as less than a human being. They literally want me to sign off and say ‘I am less than you, what you did to me is okay.’ And it’s not okay. It’s not okay to do to anybody.” Today, Crews took another brave stance against sexual assault in Hollywood.
On Tuesday, June 26th, Crews testified on Capitol Hill about instances of sexual assault that have taken place during his career. To be specific, Crews spoke about an instance in which producer, Avi Lenner, threatened to deny Crews a role in Expendables 4 if he didn’t drop his civil suit against Adam Venit. When asked to confirm whether or not he had a role in Expendables 4, Crews stated, “No. Simply because this same producer is under his own … investigation.” Furthermore, Crews said, “Abusers protect abusers — and this is one thing I had to decide, whether I was going to draw the line on. Am I going to be a part of this or am I gonna take a stand, and there are projects I had to turn down.”
Terry Crews testified on Capitol Hill as Congress held a hearing about the Sexual Assault Survivors’ Bill of Rights, which provides new rights for victims of sexual violence in the federal criminal code. On the matter, Crews said, “Hollywood definitely has been a problem area, simply because so many people view this as a dream. And what happens is, someone has power over these dreams.”
Lenner, who is facing sexual assault allegations of his own, has yet to comment on the statement. Crews will be moving forward with his civil suit against Venit in the next few months.
