On a Friday morning, Jan 24, episode of the TODAY show, Terry Crews weighed in on the recent controversy surrounding Gabrielle Union’s dismissal from America’s Got Talent after she called out the show for its toxic and racist environment.
During a third hour appearance on the show, Crews stated that he had never experienced any racism while he was the host of the show.
“First of all, I can’t speak for sexism, but I can speak on behalf of any racism comments. That was never my experience on America’s Got Talent. In fact, it was the most diverse place I have ever been in, in my 20 years in entertainment,” Crews stated.
He continued to say that the top 10 acts were all from different races and backgrounds and that the claims of racism came from an unnamed source. He also stated that Union never made an official statement regarding racism on the show.
“Now I have to say this too. When you look at what the allegations were about, it was given by an unnamed source. It’s funny because I believe you should listen to women, you should always believe women, so I asked my wife what I should do. She was like, first of all, if it’s coming from an unnamed source, because Gabrielle Union has not made any statement to this day about any of these allegations publicly,” Crews added.
The author of the Vulture article, Yashar Ali, which discussed Gabrielle Union’s dismissal from AGT, took to Twitter to discredit Crews’ remarks, calling them “incredibly disappointing and misleading.”
40. Terry Crews, the host of America's Got Talent, is speaking out again on the fallout from @itsgabrielleu's firing from America's Got Talent and what he has to say is incredibly disappointing and misleading with respect to the facts that are out there.
— Yashar Ali
(cont)(@yashar) January 24, 2020
In the thread, Ali brings up the racist comments that Jay Leno and Howie Mendel made while on the show in response to Crews’ statement that there was never any racist comments made while he was on the show. Ali also said how he had multiple sources for this Vulture story and so did Variety Magazine. Ali also says how Gabrielle Union had made an official statement regarding her dismissal and comments.
42. Terry Crews goes onto say (this was on the 3rd hour of the Today Show) that all of these allegations were made by an unnamed source. That's not true. I had multiple sources for my story and so did Variety
— Yashar Ali
He says that @itsgabrielleu has not made any statement
Also not true pic.twitter.com/kTJKUIRxOR
Union did not directly respond to Crews’ remarks, but when a fan tweeted her love and support for the actress, Union responded to the tweet with the following message.
Thank u! Cuz girlllllll
— Gabrielle Union (@itsgabrielleu) January 24, 2020Truth telling, wanting change & having MULTIPLE witnesses who bravely came forward to let EVERYONE know I didn't lie or exaggerate, really exposes those who enthusiastically will throw you under the bus, forgetting quickly who stepped up 4 THEIR truth. https://t.co/X1uooWTpmK
Union continued her subs at Terry Crews asking why someone would get on television and lie, then pushing for more diversity in the production of AGT.