Actor Terry Crews has reportedly filed a lawsuit against Adam Venit over claims that the prominent Hollywood talent agent grabbed his genitals during an industry party in February 2016.
According to TMZ, Crews’ lawsuit comes one month after the Brooklyn Nine-Nine star filed a police report with the LAPD over the alleged assault.
Crews claims in his suit, the gossip outlet reports, that Venit stared at him “like a rabid dog, sticking his tongue in and out of his mouth provocatively.” Crews says he pushed Venit and turned to actor Adam Sandler and said, “Adam, come get your boy! He’s grabbing my nuts.”
From TMZ:
Crews says on his way home from the event Adam Sandler called and asked if he was ok, and Crews responded that he was surprised he got molested at age 48. He says Sandler expressed shock at Venit’s behavior.
He says the next day he called his agent at William Morris Endeavor — the same agency where Venit works — telling him of the alleged assault. A few hours later, Crews says Venit called him and apologized, claiming he was just not himself that night.
Crews says he met with WME’s chairman Ari Emanuel, who apologized for Venit’s behavior. Crews says he told Emanuel he feared retaliation, but Emanuel said Venit “did not have that level of power despite his title as head of the Motion Picture Department.”
In October, Crews took to Twitter and described the alleged assault. Venit — whose clients include Sandler, Emma Stone, and Dustin Hoffman — was placed on a one-month suspension by the firm following Crews’ allegations, but returned to the company and was demoted from his position as head of WME’s Motion Picture Group.
Earlier this month, the actor said that he’s “never felt more emasculated, more objectified.”
“People need to be held accountable,” Crews told Good Morning America co-host Michael Strahan. “This is the deal about Hollywood. It is an abuse of power. This guy, again, he’s one of the most powerful man in Hollywood, and he looked at me at the end as if, ‘Who is going to believe you?’”
Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter @jeromeehudson
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