The Hollywood agent who admitted to grabbing the genitals of actor Terry Crews will not be charged by the Los Angeles County District Attorney.
Prosecutors declined to file felony charges against William Morris Endeavor agent Adam Venit because he ‘did not make contact with the victim’s skin when he grabbed the victim’s genitals and there is no restraint involved’ according to a charge evaluation worksheet obtained by DailyMail.com.
Crews, 49, also reported the assault just outside the one-year statute of limitations, filing paperwork in which he detailed the February 2016 incident with the LAPD back in November.
There is still a chance that Venit could be charged with a misdemeanor in the case, with a spokesperson for the district attorney’s office telling DailyMail.com that the case has been sent to the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office.
Venit and WME, who formerly represented Crews, are still facing a lawsuit filed by the actor in Los Angeles County Superior Court.
The agent seemed to have no worries about any of that on Wednesday as he celebrated his 55th birthday with his wife and children in Malibu, opting to head out for the occasion rather than have the party at his 15,000-square-foot, $8 million Beverly Hills home.
Not a felon: William Morris Endevor agent Adam Venit (above with Ashton Kutcher in 2004) will not be charged with felony assault for admittedly grabbing Terry Crews’ penis in February 2016
Evaluation: Crews is still suing Venit and William Morris Endeavor, who ordered the actor to undergo a mental health examination in court papers filed last month (Crews at his exam on Monday above)
On February 26, lawyers for WME filed a stipulation and order calling for an independent medical examination of Crews in that case.
Lawyers for both Crews and the defendants managed to agree on a doctor, and earlier this week the actor headed in for his examination.
Crews posted a photo of himself on Monday standing shirtless in an examination room, writing: ‘Walking in to WME’s seven hour mental health exam like…’
That visit came one day after Crews attended the Academy Awards, with the actor having just become a member of AMPAS last year.
There he got to spend time with Tarana Burke, the creator of the #MeToo movement, and Luke Skywalker himself, Mark Hamill.
He seemed most excited to be with his wife, who he had posted a photo of last week in which she could be seen reaching for his rear.
‘BEHOLD, THE ONLY ONE ALLOWED TO TOUCH MY JUNK,’ wrote Crews.
The actor has not given any extensive interviews about his lawsuit in recent weeks, but hinted at the ongoing legal battle on social media.
Crews also filed a stipulated protective order in the case last month, stating that any documents or evidence submitted in the case that are deemed private or confidential by one of the three legal teams involved will be kept under seal.
He filed his initial complaint back in December.
‘Venit, upon his first meeting Crews, viciously grabbed Crews’ penis and testicles so hard that it caused Crews immediate pain in a blatant and unprovoked sexual assault,’ state court papers filed by Crews.
WME and Venit both filed their responses to that complaint in January.
Venit argues that Crews is not entitled to any relief because the actor ‘had not suffered any injury or danger’ and ‘none of the acts alleged were based on sex and/or the conduct was not sexual.’
He also does not address the question of whether or not he grabbed Crews’ genitals, choosing rather to open his filing with a general denial of ‘each and every allegation contained in [Crews’] complaint.’
In WME’s court filing, lawyers for the agency claim that Crews initially accepted Venit’s apology and stayed with the firm, until 18 months later when he suddenly decided to go public with his allegation.
‘Mr Crews Complaint begins with a gratuitous “opening statement” that falsely and wrongly accuses WME of both turning a blind eye to the February 2016 incident at the heart of the case and of somehow ratifying the alleged conduct of Defendant Adam Venit once WME learned of it,’ reads the complaint.
‘None of that happened.’
The agency goes on to list examples of its proactive behavior, stating that Venit was immediately suspended without pay after Crews went public and upon returning to WME got a huge demotion.
Big fan: The actor willingly did that, and posted a photo of the exam to Instagram on Monday, one day after attending the Academy Awards and meeting Tarana Burke (Burke and Crews above on Sunday)
Ground rules: ‘BEHOLD, THE ONLY ONE ALLOWED TO TOUCH MY JUNK,’ wrote Crews on a photo of himself and his wife at a party in Los Angeles last week (above)
Crews claimed however that the entire incident was largely swept under the rug, and that he was the one fighting ti get Venit off him.
‘Crews smacked Venit’s hand away and shoved him back more forcefully than before, screaming “Hey! What are you doing?!” two or three times, but Venit ignored everything Crews was saying and continued to try to grab Crews’ genitals,’ reads the initial complaint.
‘Crews kept Venit at arm’s length and turned to Sandler to get his attention, yelling, “Adam, come get your boy! He’s grabbing my nuts!”‘
Crews did admit the Venit called the next day and said ‘he was just not himself that night.’
Crews detailed how he was allegedly assaulted by Venit back in November on GMA, one month after first accusing the agent on Twitter and one more before filing his lawsuit.
‘Back in February 2016, I was assaulted by Adam Venit, head of the motion picture department at William Morris Endeavor. One of the biggest agencies in the world, period,’ said Crews.
The Brooklyn 911 star went on to explain that he did not even know the agent, whose clients include Adam Sandler, Sylvester Stallone and Eddie Murphy.
‘I’m looking at him and he’s basically staring at me and he’s sticking his tongue out and, you know, it’s overtly sexual kind of tongue moves and I’m saying, “It’s a party. It’s packed.” The whole thing,’ explained Crews.
‘He comes over to me. I stick my hand out and he takes his hand and puts it and squeezes my genitals. And I jump back like, “hey, hey “and he’s like licking his tongue out and all this stuff.’
Crews said that the assault did not end at that point however, and continued to go on in front of the other guests.
‘I go, “Dude, what are you doing? What are you doing?” And then he comes back again and he just won’t stop and then I really got forceful, pushed him back,’ said Crews.
‘He bumps into all the other partygoers and he starts giggling and laughing and let me tell you – I have never felt more emasculated, more objectified. I was horrified.’
Crews went on to say: ‘I went over to Adam [Sandler] right then and there [and said], “Come get your boy. What is – what is his problem?”
The former football star, who broke onto the Hollywood scene after years of bit parts with his role in the critically acclaimed series Everybody Hates Chris, has since fired William Morris.
The night of the incident however, it was Sandler that Crews approached hoping to diffuse the situation.
‘I was like, “Adam, what is wrong with your boy.” He didn’t understand. It was bizarre to both of us,’ said Crews, who at that point was having trouble controlling his anger.
‘I looked at him – it was rage. And when I say rage, I felt like I could punch a hole in his head. But this is the deal – my wife told me, three years earlier, she said, “Terry, you can never handle any situation like this with violence. You are a target. You can be baited and pulled.”‘
Happy couple: Venit (above with wife Trina in 2016) has yet to comment on the DA decision to not file felony charges
Casa: venit and his family reside at 15,000-square-foot, $8 million Beverly Hills home (above)
He then told host Michael Strahan that as a black man, he believed that the blame would be entirely placed on him if he lashed out at Venit.
‘If you react, physically – and let me tell you something, I’ve done it before, but this is the deal, when I grabbed her hand and I left that party, we were only there for like a half hour, I almost ripped the steering wheel off and she just kept saying, “I’m proud of you. I’m proud of you.”‘
Crews then expressed how grateful he was that Rebecca, his wife of 27 years, was by his side that night.
‘She calmed me down because she was the one who told me that this kind of thing would happen and that you could be baited,’ he said.
‘If I would have just retaliated in defense I would be in jail right now. That’s one thing I knew being a large African-American man in America, I would immediately be seen as a thug but I’m not a thug.’
Strahan then asked about the police report, to which Crews responded: ‘You know, people need to be held accountable, Mike. This is the deal about Hollywood. And it’s an abuse of power.
He continued: ‘This guy, one of the most powerful men in Hollywood, and he looked at me at the end as if, you know, who is going to believe you?’
Crews also said that he was only able to come forward now because of the recent movement of victims naming the sexual predators that attacked them.
‘I put it in the back of my head and I understood why women everywhere had to let it go, but let me tell you when the Weinstein thing started happening I got PTSD,’ said Crews.
‘I was going, oh my god, this exact thing happened to me. I understand why they won’t come forward.’
Crews then explained his silence the same way that the more than 100 woman who have accused the likes of Weinstein and James Toback have over the past few weeks.
‘When a person of power breaks that boundary and violates that boundary you’re a prisoner of war immediately because you’re trying to figure out with is the right time to come out,’ said Crews.
‘I’m free. I finally got free and this is the thing a lot of people just don’t understand and they end up blaming the victim. And I have totally said I will not be shamed. I will not be shamed. I did nothing wrong.’