Aimée Lutkin
Terry Crews is calling out actor and comedian D.L. Hughley for mocking Crews’ sexual assault allegations.
Hughely said in an August 2018 interview that Crews couldn’t have been a victim of unwanted groping by former head of the motion picture department at William Morris Endeavor, Hollywood agent Adam Venit, because Crews had muscles and was in a public place.
The interview started making the rounds on Sunday after Deadline called Hughley out for his remarks.
“I think it’s hard for me to think that a dude with all those muscles can’t tell an agent to not touch his ass,” Hughley said. “I don’t understand. I think that now everybody’s so into this notion that, ‘It happened to me too.’ Hey, motherf***er, God gave you muscles so you could say no and mean it.”
“You told the world ‘God Gave Me Muscles So I Could Say No,” Crews captioned a clip of Hughley’s interview.
“Are you implying I ‘wanted’ to be sexually assaulted?”
You told the world “God Gave Me Muscles So I Could Say No…”
Are you implying I “wanted” to be sexually assaulted?
I’m listening, sir…https://t.co/v6Q4xrvfJQ
— Terry Crews (@terrycrews) January 27, 2019
Rather than apologizing, Hughley doubled down.
Crews stepped it up a notch.
“If you truly feel that is a correct way to deal with toxic behavior…Should I slap the sh*t out of you?” he asked Hughley.
So sir…
If you truly feel that is a correct way to deal with toxic behavior…
Should I slap the shit out of you? https://t.co/GmePqluEIX
— Terry Crews (@terrycrews) January 27, 2019
Crews wrote how he had idolized the comedian early in his career, but how he ultimately became “an example of when comedy turns to sarcasm and cynicism.”
I have looked up to you my whole career as one of the funniest most talented people I’ve ever seen.
I remember when I saw you warming up the crowd at FRESH PRINCE OF BEL AIR and I thought “this man is a genius.”
— Terry Crews (@terrycrews) January 27, 2019
Crews had filed a lawsuit against Venit after going public with the allegation that the agent had groped him at a party in 2016. Prosecutors dropped charges against Venit last March.
But now you are an example of when comedy turns to sarcasm and cynicism. And you find it extremely easy to get jokes at someone else expense. You mock my success, but all I ever did was support you.
— Terry Crews (@terrycrews) January 27, 2019
Crews also tagged 50 Cent, Russell Simmons, and Tariq Nasheed in his tweet, celebrities who have all in the recent past made a mockery of his sexual assault.
You @50cent @unclerush and @tariqnasheed have decided my sexual assault was hilarious, whereas there are a whole generation of black women and men who don’t think it’s funny.
ABUSERS PROTECT ABUSERS but they MOCK SURVIVORS as well.
When you see me, keep it moving.
— Terry Crews (@terrycrews) January 27, 2019
“When you see me, keep it moving,” he concluded.
The fact of the matter is, Crews would have been the one to lose everything had he “slapped the sh*t” out of a top (white) Hollywood agent in a public setting. Hughley’s willful ignorance of that inevitability did not go unaddressed on social media.
For years now Crews has been vocal about challenging toxic masculinity and what it means to be a man (or, ‘masculine’) in our society. He even wrote a book on the matter. Those who still blame victims for their assault are part of the problem—and many on Twitter thanked Crews for his outspoken bravery and refusal to stand down in the face of attempted victim-shaming.
