WME agent Adam Venit resigned from the company as part of WME’s settlement with Terry Crews over his sexual assault. After the extended legal battle between Crews, Venit, and the company, the super agency’s initial response to Crews’s allegations was to sweep the incident — in which Venit groped Crews’s groin at a party — under the rug. According to an Esquire profile of Crews, a few days after he was assaulted, he told Ari Emanuel, co–chief executive of William Morris Endeavor. “I was assaulted. We’re not talking harassment,†Crews recalls saying. In response, Emanuel said that Venit “would lose a lot of money in thirty days,†and asked if that “would be enough†for Crews, who said no.
After Crews went public with the assault, Venit was placed on a leave. Later, Crews brought legal action against WME and Venit, and the former agent apologized and resigned. “[WME] phrase it as a retirement and separate it from my case. I know how the game is played,†Crews told Esquire. “The fact that he did this, and now they cannot employ him in any capacity from here on out, is a win for me. And a win for Hollywood.â€