Terry Crews faces criticism over ‘black supremacy’ tweet
Actor Terry Crews sparked controversy on social media Sunday after he tweeted about the need for all people to come together to defeat racism in the U.S.
“Defeating White supremacy without White people creates Black supremacy. Equality is the truth. Like it or not, we are in this together,” he tweeted.
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US actor Terry Crews arrives for the 72nd Annual Directors Guild of America Awards at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Los Angeles on January 25, 2020. (Photo by Jean-Baptiste Lacroix / AFP) (Photo by JEAN-BAPTISTE LACROIX/AFP via Getty Images)
The statement was met with criticism online. Tyler James Williams, who starred with Crews in “Everybody Hates Chris," responded to his tweet by saying that he knows Crews' heart, but “no one is calling 4 black supremacy & the narrative that we are hurts our cause & our people.”
The Independent newspaper reported that Crews clarified his tweet in his response to Williams.
“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.”
The death of George Floyd in police custody has sparked protests and, at times, unrest across the country. Protesters have called for new accountability in policing and called on the country to reexamine itself when it comes to opportunities for minority communities.
Crews has posted about Floyd's case in the past. Shortly after the May 25 death, he said on Instagram that his heart was “broken.”
“George Floyd could be me. I could easily, easily be that man on the ground with that police officer's knee on my neck. That could easily be me," he wrote.
He later added, “[The] murder of George Floyd has forced me to search my heart to find out what more I can do, as a human being, as a citizen, and more specifically as a Black man, to ensure our community cannot only survive but thrive in this new world.”
Darryl Wharton-Rigby, a writer and director, responded to Crews’ tweet saying, “We have officially entered The Twilight Zone on a day when Mitt Romney marches for #BlackLivesMatter and Terry Crews does the thing he does…”