Terry Crews has come forward with his own tale of being groped by a Hollywood executive — right in front of his own wife, too — and Crews’s testimony is a giant answer to people asking why women abused by Harvey Weinstein (and his ilk) don’t come forward immediately. Crews, in a series of tweets, explained that when it happened to him he didn’t come forward because he feared ostracization. And Crews, a former NFL player who’s 6’4″ and 240 pounds, also didn’t retaliate by knocking the executive out cold — because that might look bad.
This whole thing with Harvey Weinstein is giving me PTSD. Why? Because this kind of thing happened to ME. (1/Cont.)
— terrycrews (@terrycrews) October 10, 2017
I was going to kick his ass right then— but I thought twice about how the whole thing would appear. (4/cont.)
— terrycrews (@terrycrews) October 10, 2017
Who’s going 2 believe you? ( few) What r the repercussions?(many) Do u want 2 work again? (Yes) R you prepared 2b ostracized?(No)(11/cont.)
— terrycrews (@terrycrews) October 10, 2017
Crews explains that victims of abuse by powerful people have to weigh their options carefully, and often coming forward alone is not just career suicide — it’s tough emotionally and financially. (Remember that Harvey Weinstein made all those payments to women who accused him? Well you have to hire an expensive lawyer to make that happen.) Crews’s revelation brings to mind the comedian Jay Leno’s take on the situation with Bill Cosby, when the number of women who claimed to be sexually assaulted by Cosby rose fast after the floodgates were opened and it seemed safer to tell one’s story about Cosby abuse. People then, just as now with Weinstein, started questioning the women’s accounts because they had previously held back their accusations. But that’s obviously what too often happens for all the reasons Crews explains — #1 on the list being self-preservation. What Leno said at the height of the Cosby scandal was probably the most sensible of all the celebrity responses. And it matches Crews’s sentiment exactly. Jay Leno said: “I don’t know why it’s so hard to believe women. You go to Saudi Arabia and you need two women to testify against a man. Here you need 25.” Leno, like Crews, thinks that’s ridiculous.
