Brooklyn Nine Nine star Terry Crews has testified in front of a US senate hearing on sexual assault, describing how he felt powerless and humiliated after being groped by a Hollywood executive at an event in 2016.
A “humble” and “emotional” Crews gave a “passionate” opening statement at the Senate Judiciary Committee’s hearing on the Sexual Assault Survivor Bill of Rights on Tuesday, ABC reports.
The 49-year-old actor described how his abusive father had brought him up with a rigid view of masculinity - a view that fell apart after he became a victim of sexual assault.
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“I'm not a small or insecure man," he said. “But, in that moment, I've never felt more emasculated.”
“The assault lasted only minutes, but what he was effectively telling me while he held my genitals in his hand, was that he held the power - that he was in control.”
He said that his precarious position as a successful black man in the public eye made him feel unable to physically resist for fear of jeopardising his career.
“As a black man in America, you only have a few shots at success," he told senators.
Those he confided in often trivialised his experience, dismissing the incident as “horseplay”, he said.
“I was told over and over that this was not abuse - this was just a joke,” he said. “But I can say one man’s horseplay is another man’s humiliation.”
Crews, a former American football player known for his “strongman” roles on screen, was widely applauded for defying the stigma of male sexual abuse by going public with his own tale of sexual assault during the #MeToo revelations in October last year.
"As I watched women and colleagues in my industry come forward to share their #MeToo stories, this shame washed over me again and I knew I needed to act,” he told senators yesterday.
He added that “thousands” of men had approached him to thank him for coming forward and to share their own experiences.
