As more and more everyday folks and celebrities alike share their #MeToo stories, one of the most powerful revelations came from an unexpected source: Terry Crews.
Terry Crews’ story of sexual assault was eye-opening to many. If a tall, muscular, male celebrity and athlete could be groped and still fear to fight back or speak out, how do people imagine that women feel in that situation?
Well there’s good news when it comes to Terry Crews — the police are investigating.
Do you guys watch Brooklyn Nine-Nine?
Terry Crews has been in other things, from Old Spice ads to playing the pro wrestler in Idiocracy, but Brooklyn Nine-Nine is one of the best comedies on television.
On it, Terry plays a character who, despite his size and strength, is a nurturing family man with a strong sensitive side and who is wholly unafraid to stray from hypermasculine gender norms.
In other words, Terry Crews plays a character very similar to himself.
Terry Crews was a football player, but before that, he was an art student and is a genuinely good artist. He’s also been quick to eschew toxic masculinity and to support women.
We mention this because Terry Crews is a genuinely good person, and it’s important to know that — even though no one, even bad people, deserve to be sexually assaulted.
After the Harvey Weinstein rape accusations came to light and countless women began sharing their #MeToo stories, Terry Crews tweeted and shared his own story of being groped by a man in the entertainment industry at a party.
This happened in public (it was at a party) and in front of his wife.
As a general rule, you want to be really sure that you have permission before you touch someone else’s genitals.
You might be thinking “oh, it’s a nice surprise,” but you’re basically gambling on the hope that they’ll be pleased.
Just because a lot of folks like having their junk touched doesn’t mean that it’s welcome as a surprise or that you, specifically, have permission to do it.
And that goes for butts and boobs and really any part of their bodies.
The man whom Terry Crews accuses of groping him is Adam Venit, an agent for William Morris Endeavor, who headed the talent agency’s motion picture department.
We say that he headed that department, past tense, because Venit has been placed on leave.
Well, there’s good news, folks.
Terry Crews has filed an official report with the LAPD about his sexual assault.
Describing it all to police can be more difficult, in some ways, than sharing your story with the world.
But it’s an important step.
As satisfying as it might be to see, say, Kevin Spacey scrubbed from a film or to see various famous dirtbags lose their jobs — Harvey Weinstein’s wife left him — only by going to the police can we hope to send these alleged rapists to prison.
Terry Crews isn’t the only one whose brave accusation could lead to real, legal consequences for the accused.
The LAPD is investigating Harvey Weinstein for rape, which could lead to something a lot realer than a stint in rehab, which essentially amounts to a one-week vacation with some therapy.
Gossip Girl actor Ed Westwick is under investigation for rape after an actress came forward, and now another actress is sharing a chillingly similar accusation about him.
Fear of consequences — of being victim-blamed, of being ridiculed, of not being believed, and of being deliberately blacklisted by powerful predators — has maintained a culture of silence around Hollywood and elsewhere for far too long.
The more that brave people share their #MeToo stories, the sooner that we can shine a light upon the evil in our midst. The sooner that we can make ourselves better as a society and as a cutlure.
