Terry Crews insists he neither experienced nor witnessed any racism or discrimination on the set of America's Got Talent—contrary to what Gabrielle Union alleged after her controversial ousting from AGT. The 51-year-old actor addressed the controversy during a recent appearance on the TODAY show, months after Union was ousted from the show..
Insiders said that prior to Union's firing, she had expressed frustration over the show's "toxic culture" and producers' apparent toleration of racist jokes and sexist comments. Crews, who hosts AGT, told TODAY he couldn't speak to the alleged sexism, but made it clear he never saw any racist behavior behind the scenes.
"That was never my experience. In fact, it was the most diverse place I have ever been in my 20 years of entertainment," he told the hosts. "When you look at what the allegations were about, it was given by an unnamed source. It's funny because I believe you should listen to women, you should always believe women, so I asked my wife what I should do. She was like, 'first of all, if it's coming from an unnamed source — because Gabrielle Union has not made any statement to this day about any of these allegations publicly … if she hasn't made a statement, why would you?'"
Union shared a series of tweets that seemingly addressed Crews' comments. The first post was in response to a fan who expressed support for Union and encouraged her to stand by her truth. After thanking the fan, Union pointed to the "multiple witnesses who bravely came forward to let everyone know" she was not exaggerating or lying. She then spoke about unnamed people who "will throw you under the bus."
Union went on to say that there was a clear lack of diversity among production as well as the hair and makeup department. She also claimed that the involved parties had agreed not to speak about the situation until the investigation had been completed: "But if we doing this... ohhhhh baby let's gooooooooooo!" she tweeted.
Though Union never mentioned anyone by name, Twitter users were convinced she was responding to Crews. Many also criticized the AGT host for seemingly dismissing the allegations of racism and sexism on the set of AGT—especially since he knows first-hand how difficult it can be to come forward with these types of allegations. Crews had previously sued former WME agent Adam Venit for allegedly groping him at a 2017 party. Crews' case was ultimately thrown out.
