When actor Terry Crews revealed in a series of tweets Oct. 10 that he, too, had been the victim of a sexual predator in Hollywood, he never identified the “high level” executive he said groped his private parts at a party in full view of his wife. We now have a reported name for that high-level Hollywood executive: Adam Venit.
Venit is the longtime head of the motion picture group at William Morris Entertainment, and Variety reports that he is on leave from the agency as it looks into the allegation of sexual harassment made by Crews, who is a client of the agency.
Sources have told Variety that Crews had been preparing to out Venit as the unnamed executive who groped him at a party and then called the next day to apologize.
Of the incident, Crew wrote: “Jumping back I said what are you doing?! My wife saw everything n we looked at him like he was crazy. He just grinned like a jerk.”
Frustrated, Crews said that his first instinct was to kick the executive’s ass, but he knew the optics on that wouldn’t be good: “‘240 lbs. Black Man stomps out Hollywood honcho’ would be the headline the next day,” Crews wrote.
Crews said that rather than risk going to jail that night, he left the party with his wife instead. He said he spent that night and the next day talking to everyone he knew who had previously worked with the executive and told them what happened.
The executive called him the next day to apologize, Crews said, but offered no explanation as to why he had grabbed Crews’ genitals in the first place. Crews said that fear of being ostracized in Hollywood kept him from taking the situation any further.
Crews said that he didn’t think anyone would believe him if he told the story.
No further details about the incident, including where it occurred, have been revealed. It is also unknown whether the executive meant the move to be sexual or “if it was aggressive horseplay that crossed a line,” as Variety notes.
The list of clients Venit represents includes people such as Emma Stone, Adam Sandler, Diane Keaton and Eddie Murphy. Venit also represents Dustin Hoffman and Brett Ratner, both of whom have also had allegations of sexual harassment lodged against them this week.
Variety reports that neither the agency, Venit nor Crews would comment for its article.
It would appear that sexual assault and sexual harassment are going to be the undoing of white male power in Hollywood.
Good.