McMahon quits WWE after sex assault claims
Ex-employee alleges attacks
STAMFORD — One day after a former employee filed a lawsuit alleging repeated sexual assaults, Vince McMahon resigned Friday from the WWE parent company.
In a statement, McMahon resigned as executive chairman of WWE-parent TKO Group Holdings, but denied the allegations contained in Janel Grant’s 67-page complaint.
“I stand by my prior statement that Ms. Grant’s lawsuit is replete with lies, obscene made-up instances that never occurred, and is a vindictive distortion of the truth,” McMahon said in the statement. “I intend to vigorously defend myself against these baseless accusations, and look forward to clearing my name.”
“However, out of respect for the WWE Universe, the extraordinary TKO business and its board members and shareholders, partners and constituents, and all of the employees and Superstars who helped make WWE into the global leader it is today, I have decided to resign from my executive chairmanship and the TKO board of directors, effectively immediately.”
In July 2022, McMahon announced his retirement as WWE’s CEO and chairman, amid an investigation by the company’s board of directors of his alleged misconduct and after several Wall Street Journal articles were published that revealed the accusations against him. The Journal reported that McMahon agreed to pay four women a total of more than $12 million over 16 years to keep secret allegations of sexual misconduct and infidelity, citing unnamed people familiar with those agreements and related documents.
McMahon, 78, subsequently
decided he wanted to come back to WWE, which he and others, including his wife and former CEO Linda McMahon, have built into a global business over the past 40 years. The Connecticut company has fans across the world and its two most popular shows are Raw and SmackDown.
Grant, a Stamford woman who was hired in June 2019, claimed in the complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Connecticut that she was required to maintain a sexual relationship with McMahon that included “depravity.” The lawsuit names the WWE, McMahon and John Laurinaitis, an Arizona resident who was the former head of talent relations and general manager at WWE. A representative for Grant
said a criminal complaint has not been filed.
A WWE representative did not respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit.
“She wants her life back. She wants ownership of her story. She wants to help other victims. This is relatively close in time, 2019 when this unfolded, 2020, and her hope is to help other victims, if there are other victims to come forward, because she has the courage and the presence of mind to finally get this done and come forward,” Grant’s lawyer Ann Callis said Friday in an interview with Angenette Levy on Law & Crime’s Crime Fix.
“What happened to her and what we allege left her physically and mentally absolutely destroyed, so she is trying to
recover and she believes this is the first step. Filing this lawsuit took such tremendous courage from her,” Callis said.
Callis also appeared Friday night on CNN with Laura Coates and NBC’s Top Story with Tom Llamas.
The lawsuit describes several incidents involving McMahon, including one where Grant claimed she was sexually assaulted by him and another man behind closed doors while other employees sat at their desks nearby at the company’s Stamford headquarters. She left in 2022 after signing a non-disclosure agreement that totaled $3 million, the lawsuit stated.
McMahon often greeted Grant at business meetings in his “underwear,” touched her,
asked for hugs and “spent hours sharing intimate details about his life,” the lawsuit said. The lawsuit claims McMahon continued to demand sexual encounters and used “sex toys” named after his wrestlers that often left her with injuries. Grant began experiencing panic attacks and other health problems as she continued to work for McMahon, according to the lawsuit.
“She hopes any doors of secrecy have been blown off their hinges, and that fresh air fills HQ,” Callis said Friday. “She hopes those at the company past and present who fear speaking out about harm is a thing of the past. She wishes them all peace.”
Materian from the Associated Press was used in this story.