Terry Crews has spoken out in support of Brendan Fraser after he revealed he’d been the victim of an alleged sexual assault which halted his career.
The Brooklyn Nine-Nine actor had himself opened up about an alleged experience of being sexually assaulted late last year.
Crews has since gone public with the name of the man and filed a police report, and he continues to support others who have experienced similar incidents.
In a tweet he wrote:
Brendan is amazingly courageous in telling this. His assault experience is extremely similar to mine— ending with the assailant explaining away his actions. One man’s ‘horseplay’ is another man’s humiliation.
In a recent interview with GQ, Fraser came forward with his own story of sexual abuse, allegedly at the hands of Philip Berk – the former president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) – who organise the Golden Globe Awards.
Speaking about the incident which is said to have taken place in 2003 at a HFPA luncheon, Fraser described what he alleges happened as he shook hands with Berk.
He said:
His left hand reaches around, grabs my ass cheek and one of his fingers touches me in the taint – and he starts moving it around.
I felt ill. I felt like a little kid. I felt like there was a ball in my throat. I thought I was going to cry.I became depressed. I was blaming myself and I was miserable—because I was saying, ‘this is nothing; this guy reached around and he copped a feel’.
It made me retreat. It made me feel reclusive.
I don’t know if this curried disfavour with the group, with the HFPA, but the silence was deafening.
Deciding at the time not to make the incident public, Fraser received a written apology but felt himself shut out from the HFPA and Golden Globes, wondering if he’d been blacklisted.
Berk, who’s still a HFPA member, disputed Fraser’s account in a statement given to GQ:
Mr. Fraser’s version is a total fabrication. My apology admitted no wrongdoing, the usual ‘If I’ve done anything that upset Mr. Fraser, it was not intended and I apologise.
His career declined through no fault of ours.
Fraser said he ‘feels a lot better now’ despite the alleged incident.
Making the move into television, he’s next set to star in an upcoming series called Trust, which focuses on the 1973 abduction of John Paul Getty III – the heir to the Getty Oil company.
