Now That's What I Call An Apology: Terry Crews Edition

By Jodi Smith | Celebrity | March 6, 2019 |

By Jodi Smith | Celebrity | March 6, 2019 |

On February 24, 2019, Terry Crews tweeted out something quite unfortunate:

Another thing that bothers me is that this OP-ED was written by a WOMAN about how how boys should be taught to grow into successful young men.

How would she know?

MEN NEED TO HOLD OTHER MEN ACCOUNTABLE.

— terry crews (@terrycrews) February 24, 2019

On March 1, Crews made another misstep on Twitter:

I’ve reiterated many times that same sex couples and single parents can successfully raise a child. But I believe paternal AND maternal love are like vitamins and minerals to humanity. No matter where you get that paternal and maternal love. MY purpose is to give paternal love.

— terry crews (@terrycrews) March 1, 2019

After applauding Crews for his progressive views on masculinity and his whole-hearted embrace of the MeToo movement, many people were shocked at his comments. As happens in these cases, people were declaring Crews “canceled” and “problematic.” Everything Crews did to push the normalcy that men can be assaulted by people in power was thrown away by some interested in flaying him for these comments.

Instead of refusing to budge on his views that the children of same-sex couples were missing something in their life, Crews apologized for his viewpoint… kind of:

I apologize to anyone who was hurt by my “severely malnourished” tweet. It was in response to someone who said kids wouldn’t “starve”.

It was poorly worded so I deleted it.

— terry crews (@terrycrews) March 1, 2019

Crews then took everything a step further than most celebrities: he continued to look into why his views were hurtful to other people. He sat down with his Brooklyn 99 co-star Stephanie Beatriz, a woman who has been open about her bisexuality. Through speaking with Beatriz, Crews educated himself about why his assertion of “malnourishment due to a lack of one parent of each gender” was hurtful and uncalled for.

Had a great talk with @iamstephbeatz this morning on set that shed a lot of light on why the LBGTQ community were hurt by my comments.

I want to apologize for anyone who was triggered or felt targeted. I was speaking out of my very personal experiences as a Black Father.

— terry crews (@terrycrews) March 5, 2019

And while these experiences for me are very true and real, these can differ greatly from the experiences of others. Being able to sit with @iamstephbeatz gave me a perspective I had not seen before.

— terry crews (@terrycrews) March 5, 2019

Take notes, because this is how you apologize. You accept the criticism and understand why people are upset. You take the time to educate yourself about the area where you were ignorant. You apologize with sincerity and a promise to do better.