Terry Crews is many things: a former NFL star, a visual artist, a gifted comic actor, and now an increasingly important male voice in the #MeToo Movement. For me, he will always be Julius Rock on Everybody Hates Chris, one of the all-time great television dads. Crews appeared on The Daily Show to promote his role as Bedlam in Deadpool 2, and discussed other topics like the surprise cancellation-turned-renewal of Brooklyn Nine-Nine and the current state of toxic masculinity.
When the #MeToo Movement rose to prominence last year, Crews was one of the only male voices to discuss his personal experiences with harassment. Crews alleged that WME agent Adam Venit groped him at an awards show party in 2016, which the D.A.’s office ultimately decided not to pursue. Since then, Crews has pursued his own lawsuit against the agency and has been speaking out on the hazardous effects of toxic masculinity.
When host Trevor Noah asked Crews why it was so important to him to share his story, Crews said, “Women have been talking about this for thousands of years, like ‘help us, help us’, and men have turned off. It’s one of those things where they’ve stopped listening. What I’ve discovered was, when my story broke, it allowed people to see the times their lines got stepped on- you get tricked into thinking it’s part of the job.” Crews added, “success is the warmest place to hide…successful people know that they can get away with this, its a qualifier for sexual assault.”
Crews has been talking about masculinity for years, even writing a book about it in 2014 called Manhood: How to Be a Better Man or Just Live with One. In the book, he discusses his struggles with pornography addiction, his abusive alcoholic father, and his journey to becoming a more vulnerable human. Since then, Crews has been a powerful ally in the fight against toxic masculinity, calling it “a cult” in his appearance at the Women in the World summit.
For years, the fight against sexual harassment and assault has largely been a conversation among women. In the wake of Time’s Up and the #MeToo Movement, men have been suspiciously silent. To truly combat toxic masculinity and change our culture we need men and women to participate, and men especially need to start calling other men out and effecting change. They need to commit to something more substantial than wearing a trendy lapel pin on a red carpet. Here’s hoping the men of Hollywood take a page out of Terry Crews’ book.
(via AV Club, image: FOX)
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