Terry Crews apologizes for controversial BLM tweets: 'I really do want to apologize to anybody who was offended'
On The Daily Show With Trevor Noah Wednesday, Terry Crews addressed the tweets he posted in the summer of 2020 that some construed as derogatory toward the Black Lives Matter movement. Crews was accused of making “willfully destructive” comments in his tweets. One such tweet read, “Defeating White supremacy without White people creates Black supremacy. Equality is the truth. Like it or not, we are all in this together.” Another read, “If you are a child of God, you are my brother and sister. I have family of every race, creed and ideology. We must ensure #blacklivesmatter doesn’t morph into #blacklivesbetter.”
“I’m gonna let you know, I really do want to apologize to anybody who was offended by these tweets, and was hurt deeply,” Crews said. “Because as an example, as an African American man, a Black man here in this country, I did not want to give the perception that we’re supposed to gloss this over and forgive the death of George Floyd, the murder of George Floyd. And I want to apologize to everyone right now who was ever offended, because it hurt.”
At the time, Crews defended himself in multiple tweets, but he now admits that the timing was a mistake. And Wednesday night, he said allowed the message his tweets were meant to convey.
“The need is for us as a people to actually come together and really, really be what we need to be to this country, because it’s our country. This is our country,” Crews said. “We died and fought, and I’m not giving it away. This is our inheritance.”
Video Transcript
TERRY CREWS: I'm going to let you know, I really do want to apologize to anybody who was offended by these tweets and was hurt deeply.
KYLIE MAR: Terry Crews joins the Daily Show with Trevor Noah Wednesday, where he apologized for tweets he posted in the summer of 2020 that some saw as disparaging to the Black Lives Matter movement. One tweet read, "Defeating White supremacy without white people creates Black supremacy. Equality is the truth. Like it or not, we are all in this together."
A few weeks later, Crews tweeted, "If you are a child of God, you are my brother and sister. I have family of every race, creed, and ideology. We must ensure Black Lives Matter doesn't morph into Black Lives better." And on Wednesday, Crews wanted to apologize for any misperception.
TERRY CREWS: I did not want to give the perception that we are supposed to gloss this over and forget the death of George Floyd, the murder of George Floyd. And I want to apologize to everyone right now who was ever offended because it hurt.
KYLIE MAR: Crews defended himself against the backlash, at the time, with multiple tweets. One of them reading, "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. But he now admits the timing of his tweets was a mistake.
TERRY CREWS: I just wanted peace. And I guess it goes back to my approval.
- Yes.
TERRY CREWS: It goes back to my need for approval. It went back to that, and again, it was a mistake. It was a mistake to tweet that out at that time.
KYLIE MAR: And Crews put into words what his tweets were meant to say.
TERRY CREWS: The need is for us as a people to actually come together, and really, really be what we need to be to this country. Because it's our country, this is our country,
- Right.
TERRY CREWS: We die and fought, and I'm not giving it away. This is our inheritance.
