Actor and TV host Terry Crews is under fire for defending America’s Got Talent against allegations of it being a toxic work environment and being sexist and racist.
Last Thursday Crews made an appearance on the third hour of the “Today Show”. During his appearance on the show, he was asked about allegations that Gabrielle Union experienced a toxic work environment and dealt with racism and sexism while working on the show.
During the interview, he said: “I can’t speak for sexism because I’m not a woman, but I can speak on behalf of any racist comments.” “That was never my experience,” Crews said.
Additionally, he explained how it’s the most diverse place he has worked throughout his 20 years in the entertainment industry. To a lot of people, it comes off as him discrediting Union’s experience. Was he wrong for defending America’s Got Talent?
AGT is his place of work and publicly defending Gabrielle Union could possibly be a breach of contract, especially considering an investigation by the network is still underway. Moreover, Union hasn’’t directly addressed what her exact issues were on AGT. All she has done is post cryptic tweets that don’t directly address anything. Union took to twitter to express her distaste to Crew’s response.
@itsgabrielleu said “Maaaaaan… We all agreed to let the investigation be completed before speaking but if we are doing this ohhhhhh baby lets gooooooooo!”
Most of the allegations have come from anonymous sources. So, who really knows if the allegations are true?
When Crews revealed that he had been sexually assaulted, several celebrities commended him for his courage including Union. Even though she stood behind him doesn’t mean he’s obligated to stand behind her.
Union standing with him in that instance was simply because she had nothing to lose. If he stands with her on this issue even if the allegations are true, he could possibly lose his job. Him being another minority on the show saying that he didn’t experience any racism does make it seem like Union’s experience was obsolete, but maybe those were not his intentions.
For Union to be a new judge on the show she did seem to be problematic. When you’re in a new environment, quickly criticizing things can be exhausting to co-workers and top management. In an interview with Yahoo Entertainment, ex-host Tyra Banks shared how she wasn’t on the show long enough to comment on the behind the scenes culture, but she commended Union for being vulnerable and speaking her truth.
Are they labeling Gabrielle Union as difficult because she is a Black woman instead of listening to her concerns? It was reported that she had an issue with Simon Cowell’s inside smoking habit, which would be justified being that she is allergic to cigarette smoke. It was also reported that
Jay Leno made a racist joke against Koreans; Union expressed her concern with that to producers and it was brushed off.
When feeling uncomfortable in a workplace, shouldn’t one be able to express that to top management?
NBC is currently investigating AGT after Union complained about toxic workplace culture.