Terry Crews started his week by angering many on Black Twitter after commenting on the sweeping protests that began after George Floyd died while in police custody in Minneapolis, Minnesota, last month.
The actor’s message was about how Black people could eliminate white supremacy, and on Sunday, June 7, he wrote, “Defeating White supremacy without White people creates Black supremacy. Equality is the truth. Like it or not, we are all in this together.”
Crews was slammed by everyday people and celebrities like Godfrey, writer Kevin Powell and Amanda Seales, who said Crews shouldn’t be speaking on white supremacy until he educates himself more.
“Just so we’re clear: 1: there is no such thing as BLACK SUPREMACY. Liberation from an oppressive system is not rooted in a desire to BECOME the oppressive system,” Seales tweeted on Monday. “A lotta my fellow celebs need their phones taken away and replaced with books. You’re not playing a role. You’re a role model. We must know our history better than we know their scripts.✊🏼”
One day prior, Tyler James Williams, who worked with Crews on “Everybody Hates Chris” for four seasons, said he had a problem with the Black supremacy tweet.
“Terry, brother, I know your heart and you know I have love for you and always will,” Williams tweeted on Sunday “No one is calling 4 black supremacy & the narrative that we are hurts our cause & our people. We’re just vigorously vetting our ‘allies’ because time & time again they have failed us in the past.”
“I’m not trying to call you out @terrycrews. You know it’s all love always,” Williams wrote in another message. “But we’re rightfully angry right now and fed up with anyone not with our cause wholeheartedly.”
Crews took time to respond to specific criticisms instead of sending a general response.
In his message to Williams, sent Sunday, he wrote, “I understand, Tyler. I was not saying Black supremacy exists, because it doesn’t. I am saying if both Black and Whites don’t continue to work together– bad attitudes and resentments can create a dangerous self-righteousness. That’s all.”
Crews also responded that same day to Powell, who called his Black supremacy tweet historically inaccurate. In his message, the “America’s Got Talent” host accused people of twisting his words “for their own evil.”
He then responded to Godrey on Sunday after the comedian told him there’s “No such thing as Black Supremacy” and that “Black pride isn’t anti white.”
“I agree,” Crews wrote back to the comedian. “I’m not discussing white people here. there are “gatekeepers of Blackness” within our own community who decide who’s Black and who’s not. I have often been called out for not being ‘black enough’. How can that be?”
“Any Black person who calls me a coon or and Uncle Tom for promoting EQUALITY is a Black Supremist, because they have determined who’s Black and who is not,” wrote Crews in another tweet. “Please know that everything I’ve said comes from a spirit of love and reconciliation, for the Black community first, then the world as a whole, in hopes to see a better future for Black people.”
