Looks like Terry Crews is the latest celebrity to weigh in on the Will Smith and Chris Rock altercation. While speaking with the The Hollywood Reporter, Crews expressed that he didn’t want to pick sides between his two friends, but he did praise Chris Rock’s composure in the moment and declining to “demonize” Smith.
“Both Will Smith and Chris Rock are dear, dear friends of mine,” he expressed to the reporter in the story published Friday. “I love them both as brothers, but there was a time in my life [where] I was Will Smith at that moment, and let me tell you, I’ve done worse than Will.”
“Way overkill, just … the punishment did not fit the crime. Like, people were like, ‘What in the world are you doing?’ My wife even had to be like, ‘You got to promise me you will never go off like this. You did not need to pick this man up and put him on his head, on the concrete,’ “ Crews described.
He went as far as to say that Rock, 57, “saved Hollywood” with his potential to keep his calmness during the live broadcast after Smith, 53, slapped him across the face in front of millions of people.
“When I look back, by what Chris did, by just deciding to hold everything together, it actually, I think in a lot of ways saved Hollywood,” Crews explained to THR. “Because if there would’ve been a brawl on that stage, I don’t know if Hollywood would’ve ever gotten any respect again, you know? It’s hard to even imagine what would’ve happened.”
Crews proceeded to praise his former Everybody Hates Chris costar as he remembered his own upbringing in Flint, Michigan, where he said he found himself in both Smith and Rock’s shoes on various occasions.
“The definition of toughness where I grew up and the way I was, it was always the ability to strike, the ability to punch, the ability to set things straight, to even the score,” he said. “But the true definition of toughness was what Chris did in taking a punch and then holding everything together and then showing tremendous endurance and resilience in the middle of obstacles.”
“I think it was a miracle what Chris did. I really do. I couldn’t believe his poise in that moment. I thought, holy cow, we owe him a lot. I think every performer owes him so much because it just really saved Hollywood in that moment. I’m very thankful to Chris, but also I understand Will. I’m not [one] to demonize Will at all because I was there,” Crews added.
The America’s Got Talent host also spoke about dealing with his own experiences, thinking back to the time he was allegedly groped by talent agent Adam Venit at a party in 2016.
“I chose to be in control. I chose to hold everything together. It could have descended into chaos. It would’ve been the end of me,” Crews said. (Venit has denied Crews’ account and said his behavior wasn’t “sexual.”)