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WASHINGTON – Terry Crews testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday that "toxic masculinity permeates culture," telling his own story of sexual assault by a Hollywood agent.
He also said that he would not make an "Expendables 4" after what he described as the producer's attempt to retaliate.
In his opening statement to the committee, Crews did not appoint the agent, but he filed a lawsuit against Adam Venit, a WME partner, claiming he was groping at of a party in 2016. He also recounted the incident in interviews and on "Dr. Phil."
The crew members told the committee, "The assault only lasted a few minutes, but what he was telling me was actually while he was holding my genitals in his hand was that he held power. That he was in control. "
He added: "It is as well as toxic masculinity pervades the culture.As I shared my story, it has been said to me repeatedly that it was not an abuse. It was just a joke.It was just a horse game.But I can say that the ruckus of one man is the humiliation of another man.And j & # 39; I have chosen to tell my story and to share my experience to be in solidarity with millions of other survivors around the world.I know how hard it is to make myself known, I know the shame associated with Aggression, it happened. "
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The hearing took place on the Sexual Assault Survivors' Bill of Rights, which said "gives survivors the right to have time to distance themselves from the immediate trauma before making the difficult decision." to report the aggression to the forces of order ". Nguyen, the CEO and founder of the civil rights organization Rise.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office refused to pursue the case of Crews as a crime, and the Los Angeles City Attorney said that a crime complaint fell out of the statute of limitations.
When Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, asked Crews if he had faced retaliation, Crews said the producer of "Expendables" called my manager and told him asked to drop my case. order that I be in the fourth part of the film, and if I did not do it, there would be problems. "
"Oh my," replied Grassley.
Crews has already identified the producer as Avi Lerner.
He said that he would not appear in "Expendables 4", noting that Lerner is also charged in a separate claim. In 2017, Lerner and Millennium Films were sued by a former leader for sexual harassment.
Crews said that he was wondering, "Am I going to be part of that? Will I take a position?
The crew members also told the committee that, growing up, he "saw my father raping my mother violently, using her power and authority to dominate her. All I could think of was how I wanted to protect her. How, if I get strong, I can protect her from this living nightmare.
He said while growing up, "This thought has transformed the type of man I have become.I swore I would never be like my father and yet I believed, in my heart of hearts, that I would not be like my father. as a man, I had more value in this world.As a protector and symbol of strength, I was more worthy.What women were under me. "
He said that he "was using body images and pornography of women at my disposal, validating my need for control." I often cut women short of sharing personal details of their lives so that they can not do anything. they seem less human, less real.As a man, I've learned all my life that I had to control the world.I therefore used power, influence and control to dominate all situations: from the football field to the set, even in my own home with my wife and children. "
This changed with the 2016 incident, he said.
"I'm not a small or insecure man, but at that moment, and at that moment, I never felt emasculated anymore," he said. "As I watched women and colleagues in my industry share their stories of #MeToo, that shame overwhelmed me again and I knew I had to act."
Crews told the committee that "wherever there is a power dynamic is what the problem is really endemic," noting that he saw it in sport, politics, and politics. other sectors.
"Hollywood has certainly been a problem, simply because there are so many people who consider it a dream," he said. "What happens is that someone has power over these dreams." What's also happening is that you're cheated thinking that this type of behavior is expected, that this is part of the job, that this harassment, this abuse, even rape, is part of your job description. "
Last year, Venit was suspended without pay and demoted, according to WME.
The representatives of WME and Lerner did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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