WME files a response to Terry Crews’ lawsuit against them

ABC/Paula Lobo(LOS ANGELES) — William Morris Endeavor is defending their actions in response to Terry Crews’ lawsuit against them, where Crews claimed the agency was aware of ongoing misconduct of Adam Venit, the man he accused of sexually assaulting him in 2016.

In WME’s response, which was filed earlier this week, the agency says that they responded, “both swift and serious[ly],” to Crews’ claims, and that Crews accepted Venit’s apology the day after the incident occurred.

“Mr. Crews accepted the apology and then told the only two WME employees to whom he had spoken about the incident that everything was okay,” the filing read.

The lawsuit also noted that Crews hadn’t made mention, “of the incident to anyone at WME for nearly 18 months — during which time he remained a WME client.”

“To the contrary, those acts demonstrate that WME decisively addressed and punished the conduct Mr. Crews alleges that Mr. Venit engaged in, bar any assertion that WME “ratified” the conduct, and thereby absolve WME of liability,” the filing states. “For these reasons, and until the Court hears all of the evidence, it should not accept Mr. Crews’ allegations against WME.”

As previously reported, Crews is suing for a range of causes including assault, sexual battery, sexual harassment, and gender violence in addition to breach of fiduciary duty and negligence.

The lawsuit, which demands a jury trial and seeks unspecified damages, comes less than a month after Crews filed a police report on November 8, a source inside the Los Angeles Police Department confirmed to ABC News at the time.

Additionally, after an internal investigation, Venit received a 30 day suspension from WME and was subsequently stripped of his department head title. He later returned to work November 27.

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