Terry Crews says he responded to being sexually assaulted in the same way Chris Rock reacted to Will Smith's slap at the Oscars: 'I chose to be in control'
- Terry Crews praised Chris Rock for maintaining control after Will Smith's slap at the 2022 Oscars.
- Crews told The Hollywood Reporter he "chose to be in control" after being sexual assaulted in 2016.
Terry Crews is the latest celebrity to weigh in on Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars, telling The Hollywood Reporter that the comedian "saved Hollywood" with his nonviolent reaction.
In an interview with THR's Lexy Perez published Friday, Crews suggested that he could relate both to Smith and Rock in that moment on March 27 when Smith slapped Rock on the Oscars stage after the comedian made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith's bald head (Pinkett Smith has alopecia).
Smith, who won best actor at the awards show, has since publicly apologized to Rock and was banned from attending the Oscars for 10 years. Rock has said he won't speak about the altercation until he gets paid.
"When I look back, by what Chris did, by just deciding to hold everything together, it actually, I think in a lot of ways saved Hollywood," Crews, 53, told THR. "Because if there would've been a brawl on that stage, I don't know if Hollywood would've ever gotten any respect again, you know? It's hard to even imagine what would've happened."
In the interview, Crews compared the Oscars slap to the time he said he once got into a physical altercation with someone who made a disrespectful remark about his then-pregnant wife while they were out to dinner.
"Both Will Smith and Chris Rock are dear, dear friends of mine," Crews told THR. "I love them both as brothers, but there was a time in my life [where] I was Will Smith at that moment, and let me tell you, I've done worse than Will. Way overkill, just … the punishment did not fit the crime."
Crews — who writes about his own previous altercation in his upcoming memoir "Tough," out on Tuesday — told THR he regretted his actions, which led him to think critically about how he reacted to situations.
"I literally had no control," Crews said. "And it wasn't until I was Chris Rock literally in that moment — when I was assaulted by agent Adam Venit — and I chose to be in control. I chose to hold everything together. It could have descended into chaos. It would've been the end of me."
In November 2017, Crews filed a police report alleging sexual assault by a Hollywood executive after sharing tweets in October 2017 saying that a "high level Hollywood executive" groped his genitals at an industry event in 2016. The Hollywood Reporter reported in November 2017 that WME agent Adam Venit was on leave following the allegations. Venit apologized to Crews in March 2018 and in September 2018, after settling a lawsuit brought against him and WME by Crews, Venit retired from his position at the agency.
Crews told THR that learning to control his reactions "saved" his life and redefined what it meant to be "tough."
"The definition of toughness where I grew up and the way I was, it was always the ability to strike, the ability to punch, the ability to set things straight, to even the score," Crews said. "But the true definition of toughness was what Chris did in taking a punch and then holding everything together and then showing tremendous endurance and resilience in the middle of obstacles."
Representatives for Crews did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.