Twitter has no mercy, and if it did, Terry Crews is unlikely to be awarded much.
“If you are a child of God, you are my brother and my sister. I have family of all races, creeds, and ideologies, “the Brooklyn Nine-Nine” actor tweeted Tuesday. “We must make sure #blacklivesmatter does not become #blacklivesbetter.”
That triggered a trend response similar to the one Crews received earlier this month after using the phrase “Black Supremacy” in a tweet that added, “Like it or not, we’re all in this together.”
In Tuesday’s responses, the television presenter “America’s Got Talent” was called racist names and labeled “an enemy of the people”, told to “read the room” and accused of being the wealthy professional athlete and lover of Whites he portrayed in the 2004 Wayans brothers’ comedy “White Chicks.”
The teams also received constructive comments from people like Bernice King, the youngest daughter of civil rights leaders Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King.
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Actress Holly Robinson Peete and comic Amanda Seales were among those who criticized Crews.
“Terry, we are trying to” import “and come to” equal “and are you worried about something better?” Peete replied, tagging his message with “stop” and “shh” emojis.
He also tweeted about having a sleepless night thinking of Elijah McClain, a black man who died last year after being caught by police. “I woke up worrying about how to prevent my sweet special son from having a similar fate and you woke up worried about * checks tweeting * … #blacklivesBETTER ??” wrote Peete in reference to the Crews tweet.
Seales was more critical of the NFL player-turned-artist and said, “This is not intellectual and irresponsible.” You are becoming an enemy of the people. Ignorance will be your downfall.
Bernice King addressed Crews with a broader explanation.
“We are a long way from that bridge, Terry. #BlackLivesMatter is, in part, a rallying cry and a protest slogan to push people to do the necessary justice work to derail the deaths, dehumanization and destruction of black lives that racism causes, ”he tweeted. “Justice is not a competition.”
“For Life” actor Felonious Munk urged Crews to “deal with the present” before worrying about a hypothetical situation.
“[C]And do we climb the mountain it will take to make black lives really matter before you start worrying about a slippery slope on the other side of it? “She wrote in one tweet and then continued in another,”.[I]Instead of worrying about a hypogenetic concern about a future that may never exist, can we deal with the present and the centuries of past oppression?
Activist April Reign, who started the #OscarsSoWhite campaign, was also angered by Crews’ tweet.
“I am a little angry with myself for being even more disappointed with Terry Crews today. I thought we had hit rock bottom, ”he wrote. “I didn’t realize I had energy left, and that makes me angry.”
Meanwhile, writer Kellee Nicole Terrell simply dismissed Crews.
“You really aren’t worth anything to us,” he wrote. “White people can have you, especially since you love doing their job for them.”
Crews representatives did not immediately respond to the Times’ request for comment.
Previously, the actor held his opinion, replying to a Twitter user: “I’ve learned that people will take whatever you say and twist it for their own evil. Anything.”
