‘Abusers protect abusers’

The Expendables actor Terry Crews recently recounted his story of alleged sexual assault at the hands of a powerful Hollywood agent. This week, while testifying before the US Senate in support of the Sexual Assault Survivors’ Bill of Rights, the 49-year-old actor revealed that he wouldn’t be a part of The Expendables 4.

According to the testimony, one of the film’s producers threatened Crews with “trouble” if he didn’t drop his lawsuit against William Morris Endeavor agent Adam Venit. The actor had earlier identified this producer as Avi Lerner, though this testimony didn’t take Lerner’s name. Crews told the Senate, “I’ve done three movies called the Expendables with Sylvester Stallone. The producer of that film called my manager and asked him to drop my case in order for me to be in the fourth instalment of the movie, and if I didn’t, there would be trouble.”

Asked if he has a role in the sequel, the actor said, “No. Simply because this same producer is going under his own sexual assault investigation and abusers protect abusers. And this is one thing I had to decide, whether I was going to draw the line on [it]. Am I going to be a part of this or am I gonna take a stand? And there are projects that I had to turn down.”

Crews revealed in October last year that he was groped by a “high-level Hollywood executive”. This came around the same time that the lid was blown off Hollywood’s many sexual assault cases by a New York Times investigation.

At the Senate testimony, he was asked by Senator Dianne Feinstein why a “big, powerful man” like him couldn’t fight back when groped.

Crews replied, “Senator, as a black man in America, you only have a few shots at success. You only have a few chances to make yourself a viable member of the community.”