Terry Crews Says Accepting His Own Toxic Masculinity Inspired His #MeToo Moment — Watch

Ever since coming out about his own experience with sexual assault in October of last year, Terry Crews has become a vocal member of the #MeToo movement. Days after The New York Times published its initial bombshell expose on Harvey Weinstein’s alleged sexual assaults, the “Deadpool 2” and “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” actor tweeted about his own experience in Hollywood, saying he was groped by a male talent agent in 2016. (The William Morris Agency denies the allegations). As the first man to join #MeToo, Crews has since become a vocal feminist ally and critic of toxic masculinity. In a candid interview on “Megyn Kelly Today,” he recounted the moment that inspired him to join the movement.

“I could not move. I remember just shaking. When I say PTSD, it’s one of those things where everything just comes flooding back… I just started tweeting,” he said. “There’s no question. Could I have knocked him out? Everybody’s like, ‘just knock him out’ or whatever. But let me tell you something: This is America. I can’t do that as who I am. Because first of all, who is gonna believe me?”

It was his wife who warned him early on in his career that people were going to provoke him, and he had to learn to not react. “There are so many young black men in jail simply for reacting to things that were done to them,” he said. “You are never seen as a victim until you’re dead.”

The whole incident allowed him to re-asses of the masculine posturing he learned growing up as a black man, and realizing certain toxic behaviors had nothing to do with being a man or being black. “I was guilty. I was a card-carrying member of this toxic masculine world,” he said.

Watch the entire interview with Crews below.