Terry Crews is speaking out about what it is like in Hollywood after the Harvey Weinstein sexual assault scandal surfaced and the Brooklyn Nine-Nine star compares it to the freeing of the slaves.
“Hollywood is now pre-Weinstein and post-Weinstein. It’s like the Emancipation Proclamation,” he said on Tuesday night while speaking with The Blast. “There was one day you were a slave. Next day you’re free. First of all, now people in Hollywood are free to say what they want to say and say what’s happening…Hollywood will never be the same. I promise you that.”
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Up Next: Terry Crews’ Wife Speaks out About Hollywood Executive’s Sexual Assault
“The post-Weinstein era changes everything,” Crews continued.
The 49-year-old actor is one of many Hollywood stars that have come out claiming that they were victims of sexual assault in recent weeks. A number of celebrities began speaking out about their experiences after an exposé was published by the New York Times detailing years of sexual misconduct by Weinstein.
Hollywood A-listers such as Kate Beckinsale, Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie and more stars have all revealed that they were subject to Weinstein’s unwanted sexual advances.
As for Crews, he took to Twitter last week to detail his experience with sexual assault.
“This whole thing with Harvey Weinstein is giving me PTSD,” Crews wrote. “Why? Because this kind of thing happened to ME.”
More: Celebrities Speak out After Harvey Weinstein Allegations Surface
Crews revealed that the incident took place during a show business function in Hollywood. While with his wife, Crews says that an executive, who he didn’t call out by name, walked up and began to grope his genitals.
“Jumping back I said ‘What are you doing?!’ ” Crews wrote. “My wife saw everything, [and] we looked at him like he was crazy. He just grinned like a jerk.”
Crews explained that he wanted to react with violence, but he knew his physical stature – 6’3″, 240 lbs. – would have possibly made him appear to be the aggressor in the situation.
“I was going to kick his ass right then— but I thought twice about how the whole thing would appear,” he wrote. ” ‘240 lbs. Black Man stomps out Hollywood Honcho’ would be the headline the next day. Only I probably wouldn’t have been able to read it because I WOULD HAVE BEEN IN JAIL. So we left.”
