Terry Crews
In this photo, Terry Crews speaks onstage at Netflix Films: 'Bright' and 'Death Note' panel during Comic-Con International 2017 at San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California, July 20, 2017. Getty Images / Kevin Winter

The New York Times report on American producer Harvey Weinstein published last week has not only inspired women from Hollywood to speak about their sexual harassment experiences, but it has also encouraged men from the entertainment industry to share their stories of struggle.

On Tuesday, after A-listers like Gwenyth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie revealed they were sexually harassed by Weinstein early in their career, former National Football League (NFL) player and actor Terry Crews wrote a long thread on Twitter saying the news of Weinstein harassing these women have given him PTSD, because he too, was groped by a “high-level Hollywood executive” during an event that he attended with his wife last year.

Crews, who stars as a sergeant in TV series “Brooklyn Nine-Nine," did not reveal the names of his alleged offenders. However, he confided how he thought about fighting back but decided not to, fearing the headlines in the newspapers the next day.

“I was going to kick his a** right then — but I thought twice about how the whole thing would appear: ‘240 lbs. Black Man stomps out Hollywood Honcho’ would be the headline the next day. Only I probably wouldn’t have been able to read it because I WOULD HAVE BEEN IN JAIL. So we left,” he wrote.

However, Crew said the day after the alleged assault, he spoke to his colleagues who knew the Hollywood executive. He also disclosed the executive called him to apologize but never explained the reason behind groping him. In the end, the actor decided not to go through the ordeal of reporting the incident for reasons that ring familiar with a lot of sexual assault victims.

Twitter was ablaze after Crews' revelation as the social media users hailed the actor for coming forward with his story. One of the users, by the name, April wrote how proud she was of Crews for sharing his story. “So proud of @terrycrews for sharing his story. As a strong Black man, he’s assumed to be immune from sexual assault.”

Carmine Sabia, a journalist, and radio host, also pointed out on Twitter how scared women would feel to come forward if men suffer from it too. “When Terry Crews can be sexually harassed and fear for his career imagine how scared women feel when it happens to them,” he wrote.

Shaun King, a columnist also valued Crews coming forward, tweeted, “Hey @terrycrews. Thank you for speaking up and sharing this man. It took tremendous courage.”

Revealing the reason behind sharing his side of the story, Crews wrote that Weinstein was not the only one out there. He also added that his intention is to “deter predators” and provide hope to everyone who was in a similar situation. “Hollywood is not the only business where this happens, and to the casualties of this behavior — you are not alone,” he wrote. “Hopefully, me coming forward with my story will deter a predator and encourage someone who feels hopeless.”

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