Names and faces
Brooklyn Nine-Nine star Terry Crews, a strident male voice in the #MeToo movement, has settled a civil lawsuit with his former talent agency after accusing one of its high-powered agents of groping his genitals during a 2016 party. Crews and agent Adam Venit agreed to settle a lawsuit in which Crews alleged Venit groped him at a Hollywood party. Venit’s agency William Morris Endeavor, also named as a defendant, confirmed the deal Thursday in a statement saying the lawsuit would be dismissed. Crews filed the civil lawsuit Jan. 30. Crews was among the most prominent men to come forward as a victim in the MeToo movement. The actor, who who did not immediately respond to the Los Angeles Times’ requests for comment, tweeted “ACCOUNTABILITY” after reports surfaced Thursday that Venit would be retiring from the agency. Venit denied the allegations in court documents, saying his actions toward Crews were not sexual and caused no harm. Prosecutors declined to file criminal charges in the case. Williams Morris Endeavor suspended Venit to investigate the claims and he was stripped of his title as head of the agency’s Motion Picture Group, Deadline reported. Crews, a former NFL star, publicized the groping allegations on Twitter last October in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal and dropped Williams Morris Endeavor as his talent agency over the incident.
Republican fundraiser Elliott Broidy lost his fight to prevent the public from learning about unsavory allegations in a lawsuit by former Playboy model Shera Bechard over a $1.6 million hush agreement about their affair. On Friday, a Los Angeles judge ruled that some claims against Broidy that are irrelevant to the dispute will be removed from the case only after the entire original complaint is made public. In related documents made public Friday, Bechard alleges Broidy sexually assaulted her repeatedly, lied to her by saying he didn’t have herpes, refused to use birth control and got her pregnant, and coerced her into having an abortion. “The public will have access to the unredacted complaint,” California Superior Court Judge Elizabeth White said at a hearing. Broidy resigned as deputy finance chairman of the Republican National Committee in April when his payments to Bechard became public. While some portions of the lawsuit were unsealed five weeks ago, Broidy fought to keep other sections under wraps, complaining of “false, salacious, and irrelevant claims.” Bechard accuses Broidy of breaching their contract by stopping installment payments on the deal after details of their affair were leaked by others.