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Gabrielle Union is done holding her tongue. So when she was asked about former colleague Terry Crews’ recent comments regarding the Black Lives Matter movement, the veteran actress kept it real.
According to Deadline, during her recent interview with Jemele Hill for her Spotify podcast Jemele Hill Is Unbothered, Gabrielle Union was asked about Crews and his recent criticisms of the Black Lives Matter movement. While she stopped short or negatively slamming the White Chicks actor, she did point out that his motives for attempting to publicly claim “All lives matter” may come from the fact that NBC supplying his paychecks.
“People hit me all day long and are like, what’s happening? And the only thing I know for sure is that Terry Crews gets three checks from NBC. So, I don’t know if being worried about job stability — which listen, we all know that if you speak up about racism and white supremacy, you absolutely can be shown the door.” Union said. “I don’t know if that’s the motivation.”
The former America’s Got Talent judge also pointed out Crew’s lack of support during her time on the show.
“Based on his recent actions, do you really think Terry Crews was an ally, was helpful, was a sounding board,” Union continued. “I think Terry Crews is showing us who he is and what he does during times of adversity and it’s not solidarity.”
While Gabrielle Union states that she is not upset about Terry Crews’s position, she did add that if he doesn’t agree he should “get out of the way”, noting that Black progress overall still benefits him regardless if he’s a part of the movement or not.
“At the end of the day, the work that I am doing to make sure that NBC is a more fair and equitable place of employment will benefit you (Crews) as well,” Gabrielle Union said. “So it’s OK to eat your cereal and let me do my thing and get out of the way. If you’re not going to help, then get out of the way. If you don’t feel financially comfortable, or spiritually comfortable or you flat out disagree, but at the end of the day he will benefit from a safer, more equitable workplace from what I stuck my neck out to do and got fired for, you know? Instead of actively working against progress.”
Terry Crews caught wind of the remarks and took to Twitter to once again apologize for his lack of support for Gabrielle Union’s fight, before adding he will continue to apologize for letting her down.
“This will be my 3rd public apology to Gabrielle Union,” Crews wrote. “If a 4th is needed, I will continue to apologize and push for reconciliation between the world, and more importantly, the culture I grew up in. I’m sorry, @itsgabrielleu #reconciliation”
While he has repeatedly apologized to Gabrielle Union for his lack of support, Crews did not double down on his statements from last month calling out the Black Lives Matter movement for what he interpreted as fostering “Black supremacy,” urging people to remember that they are “all children of God.”
“If you are a child of God, you are my brother and sister. I have family of every race, creed and ideology,” Crews wrote. “We must ensure [black lives matter] doesn’t morph into [black lives better.]”
Check out Gabrielle Union’s full interview with Jemele Hill below.
