Terry Crews is excited to start his "summer of freedom".
The 50-year-old actor alleged last year that he was sexually assaulted by Hollywood executive Adam Venit – whom he claimed groped him at a party in 2016 – and although he recently had his court case thrown out because the incident fell outside of the statute of limitations, he is still excited about the prospect of being able to tell his "truth" now that he’s come forward as a victim of harassment.
He said: "I like to call it, for me and for a lot of other people out there, I like to call it the summer of freedom. We can tell our truth."
The ‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’ actor praised the people around him for helping him to feel "safe" as he came forward with the allegations in October last year, and praised the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements for giving him the "strength" to speak out.
He added: "One thing that influenced me was being here and feeling safe and having friends and family on the show that I felt secure enough with that I could actually tell my truth and still go to work. It made a difference. I thank each and every person that is standing up here right now because it gave me the strength, along with all of the woman who came forward in the #MeToo movement, where I got all my strength from."
And Terry believes we are witnessing the "beginning" of big change in the world when it comes to harassment, and said he couldn’t wait for the day that the world becomes a "safe" place.
Speaking at the Television Critic’s Association, he said: "I’m going to tell you, that I think this is just the beginning. I feel like this is going to be a new day and now the town will be safe for my wife, for my son and for my daughter."