50 Cent mocks Terry Crews over sexual assault claims
GETTY IMAGES
50 Cent is facing a backlash after mocking a Brooklyn Nine-Nine star for speaking out about sexual assault.
Terry Crews had just given an emotional speech to US politicians where he talked about being "groped" by a Hollywood agent in 2016.
50 Cent then posted a photo - which has since been deleted - showing how muscular the actor is with the caption: "I got raped, my wife just watched."
Fans have called the rapper's post "disgusting".
Terry Crews, a former American football player, was appearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee to back new laws for sexual assault victims.
"I'm not a small or insecure man," he said. "But, in that moment... I've never felt more emasculated.
"The assault lasted only minutes, but what he was effectively telling me while he held my genitals in his hand, was that he held the power - that he was in control.
"This is how toxic masculinity permeates culture."
He explained that, in the aftermath, he was told "over and over that this was not abuse, that this was just a joke, that this was just horseplay".
But he now knows that "one man's horseplay is another man's humiliation."
I asked @TerryCrews why he didn’t use his considerable strength to fight back when he was sexually assaulted. His answer is a powerful reminder of how victims are too often forced into silence to avoid damaging their careers or reputations. We need to hear the truth.
End of Twitter post by @SenFeinstein
It's not the first time the star has gone public with his story - he originally came forward last year in the wake of allegations against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.
But this speech was to politicians trying to work out how best to implement a new set of rules called the Survivors' Bill of Rights Act, designed to better protect sexual assault victims.
One senator asked him why - as a "big powerful man" - he didn't push his attacker away.
"Senator, as a black man in America you only have a few shots at success," he answered.
"You only have a few chances to make yourself a viable member of the community. I'm from Flint, Michigan.
"I have seen many, many young black men who were provoked into violence and they are in prison, or they were killed."
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50 Cent's post on Instagram mocked Terry Crews for freezing "in fear".
It also implied that - if the same thing had happened to 50 Cent - his response would have been so violent "they would have had to take me to jail".
Terry Crews has since been asked what he makes of the post.
"I love 50 Cent, I listen to his music while I'm working out," he told TMZ.
He then added: "I prove that size doesn't matter when it comes to sexual assault."
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