Terry Crews Claims The National Enquirer Tried To Blackmail Him By ‘Fabricating Stories Of Me With Prostitutes’

Billionaire Jeff Bezos’ extortion claim against the National Enquirer‘s publisher, AMI (or America Media), continues to reverberate. Bezos claimed that the AMI CEO David Pecker threatened to publish his alleged nude photos while hoping to shape the Amazon CEO’s statements about Donald Trump. This follows a well-known pattern of Pecker targeting Trump foes, and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ronan Farrow followed up on Bezos’ claim by alleging that he also had to field blackmail efforts coming from AMI. Now, Brooklyn Nine-Nine star Terry Crews is adding his name to the list.

Crews says he was targeted by AMI in an effort to make him drop his 2017 lawsuit against WME agent Adam Venit, who he accused of groping him at a 2016 Hollywood party.

“This same company, AMI, tried to silence me in my lawsuit against [WME] and Adam Venit by fabricating stories of me with prostitutes — and even went so far as creating fake receipts,” Crews tweeted. “I called their bluff by releasing their threats online. They blinked.”

Crews later settled the lawsuit, and Venit then retired from WME amid the continuing #MeToo movement. Meanwhile, Farrow was allegedly targeted due to his investigative reporting on the National Enquirer‘s “catch and kill” practice, by which they purchase stories (in this case, about Trump and a former Playboy playmate) and sit on them, which ensures that they won’t be published elsewhere. Farrow, as well, serves as a powerful advocate for the #MeToo movement, given that he’s broken several groundbreaking stories regarding sexual misconduct accusations against powerful men.

AMI has stated that it’s investigating the blackmail claims made by Bezos but has yet to publicly respond to Farrow or Crews’ allegations.