Terry Crews has responded to the criticism he received over his recent comments about “being uninvited to the cookout.”
Wednesday, the Brooklyn Nine-Nine actor shared a tweet in which he seemingly referenced notorious cult leader Jim Jones, who’s known for a 1978 mass murder-suicide involving cyanide-laced Flavor Aid.
“The best thing about being uninvited to the cookout…is you never drank the koolaid,” Crews said.
Criticism of Crews’ remarks was swift, with many people on Twitter pointing to the actor’s lengthy history of widely panned comments. In July of last year, for example, Crews got into a televised argument with CNN’s Don Lemon following a number of tweets in which he criticized Black Lives Matter.
Crews has also been slammed for his comments on the famous Magic City strip club in Atlanta, among other things. And in the 2020 track “Pinned to the Cross,” Rick Ross took aim at Crews, saying he was “basically bought.”
Given that context, Crews’ latest remarks were met with an understandable wave of revived criticism:
In a follow-up tweet shared late Wednesday night, Crews claimed his “uninvited to the cookout” tweet was actually a reference to this week’s announcement of a new Expendables film. The actor’s name, notably, was absent from the Hollywood Reporter’s piece on the new Lionsgate project.
“What are you talking about?” Crews said. “I have plenty of Black friends. My tweet was my response to not being invited back to the Expendables, although I wish them well.” This explanation was also criticized.
Crews has appeared in three Expendables entries thus far, taking on the role of Hale Caesar. Next up, he’ll be contributing a vocal performance to the 2022 animated comedy Rumble.
