Fired Creative Artists Agency literary agent Jay Baker apologized on Saturday for comparing one of his colleagues, the manager Jewerl Ross, to a crack addict in a scene from “Menace 2 Society.”
“I deeply regret my actions and the pain I have caused Jewerl Ross,” Baker, who was ousted from CAA on Friday, said in a statement to Deadline. “I have apologized to him, and I also want to apologize to anyone else whom my behavior has offended. I have no excuse and I take full responsibility. I am a work in progress and I’ve embarked on a journey to fully understand what it means to be truly anti-racist. I promise that my actions going forward will reflect that learning.”
According to an email obtained by Deadline, Ross — who is Black — said he was “horrified” after Baker said Ross’ request for an early screening of an upcoming film was like “the crack addict scene from ‘Menace 2 Society’” and then proceeded to send Ross a clip of the exact scene for him to watch.
“No black man in America wants to think that a white person thinks that asking for a favor is like asking for crack,” Ross wrote in the email. “The first thing that crossed my mind is that if I were white and asked for a favor, would you ever have thought of this scene? And would you ever have sent it me?”
Ross did not immediately respond to a request for comment.