Terry Crews Sexual Assault Lawsuit and Settlement

Terry Crews’s sexual assault lawsuit against talent agent Adam Venit and the William Morris Endeavor agency was filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court on December 4, 2017, and settled in September 2018 on terms that required Venit to resign from WME, barred the agency from rehiring him, forced a rewrite of WME’s internal conduct policies, and paid $375,000 toward Crews’s legal fees. There was no non-disclosure agreement, and Crews took no cash damages for himself.

What Crews Said Happened

The complaint, filed by attorney Bryan Sullivan, alleged that Venit approached Crews at an industry party in February 2016 and, on first meeting him, “viciously grabbed Crews’ penis and testicles so hard that it caused Crews immediate pain in a blatant and unprovoked sexual assault.”¹ Crews’s wife was present. He later testified that Venit touched his genitals in front of her.²

Crews reported the incident the next day to his then-agent at WME, Brad Slater. According to the lawsuit, Slater said the agency would address it, but Crews said he never heard back about any action taken.¹ Venit denied the allegations in court filings, saying his actions were not sexual and caused no harm.³

How the Case Got to Court

Crews first spoke publicly about the assault in a Twitter thread on October 10, 2017, without initially naming Venit.⁴ In November 2017 he filed a police report with the LAPD and identified Venit by name during a “Good Morning America” appearance.⁵ He also dropped WME as his agency.

The nine-count civil complaint filed that December alleged assault, battery, sexual battery, sexual harassment, gender violence, intentional infliction of emotional distress, breach of fiduciary duty, negligence, and negligent retention and supervision. It accused WME of “condoning, ratifying, and encouraging Venit’s sexual predatory behavior” and said the agency knew of a “long history of bizarre behavior” by Venit but failed to act because of his professional success.⁶

After Crews went public in October 2017, WME opened an internal investigation, suspended Venit for 30 days without pay, and stripped him of his title as head of the motion picture department. He returned in late November 2017 in what the agency described as a “diminished capacity.”⁷ Crews alleged that WME chairman Ari Emanuel apologized in person but told him Venit “did not have that level of power” to retaliate professionally. Crews said his career had already suffered because he had stopped attending WME events to avoid Venit.⁸

Why No Criminal Charges Followed

The LAPD referred the matter to its Robbery-Homicide Division and then to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office in early 2018.⁹ In March 2018, both the County District Attorney and the City Attorney declined to prosecute. The District Attorney’s office found the allegations did not meet felony filing standards; the City Attorney’s office said the statute of limitations for misdemeanor charges had run.¹⁰ The civil case became the only avenue left.

The Retaliation Allegation

In February 2018, Crews accused Expendables producer Avi Lerner of pressuring him to drop the lawsuit in exchange for a role in the franchise’s fourth installment. He repeated the allegation under oath before the Senate Judiciary Committee, saying Lerner “called my manager and asked him to drop my case in order for me to be in the fourth installment of the movie, and if I didn’t there would be trouble.”¹¹ Business Insider reported that Lerner was contacted for comment but did not reply.¹² Crews declined the role.¹³

Crews testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on June 26, 2018, at a hearing on the Sexual Assault Survivors’ Bill of Rights, describing both the assault and the professional fallout. “I chose to tell my story and share my experience to stand in solidarity with millions of other survivors around the world,” he told the committee.¹¹

The Settlement Terms

WME confirmed on September 6, 2018, that all parties had settled and that the case would be dismissed.¹⁴ The agreement included four specific conditions:

Venit was required to resign from WME, with a provision permanently barring the agency from rehiring him. His last day was September 10, 2018.
WME agreed to pay $375,000 to cover Crews’s legal costs.
WME was required to implement new internal policies on sexual assault and battery against clients, including mandatory annual employee training, required reporting of allegations to the heads of legal and human resources, and review of the new policy by an outside attorney who had never previously worked for the firm.
The settlement contained no non-disclosure agreement, leaving Crews free to keep speaking publicly about the case.¹⁵

Sullivan, Crews’s attorney, said the settlement was “better than winning any amount of money at trial” because it forced structural changes at one of Hollywood’s most powerful agencies, and that Crews would have rejected a large cash payout and gone to trial if the terms had not included accountability measures.¹⁶ Crews responded to the settlement on Twitter with one word: “ACCOUNTABILITY.”¹⁴

Venit had sent Crews a personal letter dated March 22, 2018, two weeks after prosecutors declined to file criminal charges. In it he wrote: “I take responsibility for us being here now, together in this situation. I am sorry for all of it … I have no right to expect your forgiveness, but I am asking for it nonetheless.”¹⁵ The letter did not directly admit to the specific allegations. Crews published it on Twitter on September 14, 2018, after the settlement was finalized, saying the apology “meant nothing without a resignation.”⁷

1
The Hollywood Reporter. Terry Crews Sues WME Agent Adam Venit Over Assault Claim
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ABC News. Actor and Survivor Terry Crews Brings Fight Against Sexual Violence
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The Guardian. Terry Crews Lawsuit Settled Against Agent He Says Groped Him
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NPR. Terry Crews on His Sexual Assault Lawsuit: This Is About Accountability
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NBC News. Actor Terry Crews Goes to LAPD With Sexual Assault Claim Against Talent Agent
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Deadline. Terry Crews Sues Agent Adam Venit for Sexual Assault
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Deadline. Terry Crews, Adam Venit Apology Letter
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Business Insider. WME Agent Terry Crews Accused of Sexual Assault Will Step Down From WME
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The Hollywood Reporter. LAPD Turns Sex Assault Case Against WME’s Adam Venit to District Attorney
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11Alive. Terry Crews Settles Lawsuit With the Hollywood Agent He Says Groped Him
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Time. Terry Crews Sexual Assault Senate Committee Testimony
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Business Insider. Terry Crews Testified Before Senate on Sexual Assault, Said He Was Dropped From Expendables
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IndieWire. Terry Crews Expendables 4 Producer Retaliation Sex Assault
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Washington Post. Actor Terry Crews Settles His Lawsuit Against the Powerful Hollywood Agent Who Allegedly Groped Him
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Vanity Fair. Terry Crews Adam Venit WME Lawsuit Settlement
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Vanity Fair. Terry Crews Adam Venit WME Lawsuit Settlement