Actor Terry Crews was left disgusted by the alleged reaction from the head of his former talent agency after demanding the representative he accused of sexual assault be blacklisted.
The Expendables star has been vocal about his experience with sexual misconduct ever since movie mogul Harvey Weinstein was outed as an alleged sexual predator in early October (17), and this week (begs13Nov17), Crews named and shamed the man he holds responsible for reportedly groping him at a party last year (16).
He detailed the alleged inappropriate conduct of William Morris Endeavor (WME) agent Adam Venit in a candid interview on Good Morning America on Wednesday (15Nov17), revealing he was “horrified” by the purported incident, and admitting he had “never felt more emasculated, more objectified”.
In a follow-up segment, which aired on GMA on Thursday (16Nov17), Crews claims he received a call from Venit after the bash, blaming his actions on booze, but the action man insists the apology was so insincere.
“It’s like, when people are sorry because they got caught,” he said.
Crews only told a few people about the encounter at the time, but earlier this year (17), he took his complaint directly to the head of WME, co-CEO Ari Emanuel, and used the agency chief’s own words about Mel Gibson’s infamous drunken rant during a bust in 2006, when the actor/director hurled anti-Semitic remarks at the arresting Jewish cop, to demand action.
“I brought out a letter that he (Emanuel) wrote in 2011 that demanded that Mel Gibson be blacklisted from Hollywood for anti-Semitic remarks,” Crews explained. “I took that letter, crossed out ‘Mel Gibson‘, put ‘Adam Venit‘, crossed out ‘anti-Semitic remarks’, put ‘sexual assault’. I said, ‘Read that letter. Now you know what you gotta do.'”
However, Crews was stunned by Emanuel’s response, continuing, “He said, ‘It’s different.'”
The actor has since parted ways with WME and filed a police report about the alleged sex assault, but he was initially hesitant to go public with his disdain at the way his case was handled by his then-talent agents out of fear for his future in Hollywood.
“He (Emanuel) is privy to all of the studio heads who hire me,” he noted. “Who’s to say he couldn’t poison that?”
WME officials have since responded to Crews‘ comments.
A statement issued to GMA read: “An investigation was launched immediately after management was made aware (of Crews‘ complaint), resulting in Venit’s suspension.”
