Charley Gallay / Stringer/ Getty Images
Adam and Trina Venit at the OF BY FOR Awards in 2016.
- Terry Crews' lawsuit against talent agent Adam Venit has been settled.
- Venit will step down next week, according to Deadline.
- Crews accused Venit last year of groping him at a party in 2016.
Adam Venit, the Hollywood talent agent that actor Terry Crews accused of sexually assaulting him, will step down on Monday, according to The Wrap and Deadline. Crews' lawsuit against Venit has been settled and dismissed.
Venit's talent agency, WME, which used to represent Crews, said in a statement to Deadline: "Terry Crews, Adam Venit, and WME have settled the lawsuit Mr. Crews filed last year. It will be dismissed." Venit has represented clients such as Adam Sandler, Eddie Murphy, and Sylvester Stallone.
Last year, Crews accused Venit of groping him at an industry party in 2016 and filed a police report with the Los Angeles Police Department in November.
"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," Crews told the Senate Judiciary Committee while testifying on the Sexual Assault Survivors' Bill of Rights this summer.
"As I shared my story, I was told over and over that this was not abuse," Crews continued. "This was just a joke. This was just horseplay. But I can say one man's horseplay is another man's humiliation. And I chose to tell my story and share my experience to stand in solidarity with millions of other survivors around the world. That I know how hard it is to come forward, I know the shame associated with the assault. It happened to me."
WME demoted Venit from his role as head of the Motion Picture Department in December during an investigation. But prosecutors did not charge Venit because the case fell outside the statute of limitations.
According to The Wrap, Crews' lawsuit claimed that he feared retaliation from Venit, even though WME head Ari Emanuel told him that Venit "did not have that level of power."