This is the ‘summer of freedom’
Abuse victims can tell truth, Crews says
Terry BEVERLY HILLS, CALIF. Crews said it’s “the summer of freedom” for him and others who have gone public with accounts of alleged molestation.
“We can now tell our truth” and not see our lives upended, the former NFL player and actor said Wednesday. He called it “just the beginning of change.”
The entertainment industry and beyond will be safer, including for “my wife, for my son and for my daughter,” he said.
Crews made his remarks during a panel promoting NBC’s sitcom Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
Support from his castmates made him feel secure enough to “tell my truth and still go to work,” he said, also crediting the example of women in the #MeToo movement.
He alleged last year that Hollywood agent Adam Venit groped him at a party, and that top executives at William Morris Endeavor failed to discipline Venit. Prosecutors declined to file charges against Venit over the incident, citing the statute of limitations.
Crews has filed a civil lawsuit.
Venit, via his attorneys, has denied all of Crews’ allegations, saying in court documents that his actions toward Crews were not sexual, and Crews suffered no harm of any kind.
The actor testified earlier this year before a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the Sexual Assault Survivor Bill of Rights.
Harassment and abuse allegations against Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein have led to numerous women coming forward with allegations of harassment and abuse against powerful men, with Crews among the few men who have added their names to the list of those claiming abuse.