WWE founder Vince McMahon resigned from parent company, TKO Group, a day after a former employee accused him of sexual assault and trafficking in a recent lawsuit.
In 2022, McMahon announced he was stepping down from the WWE after an internal probe that found allegations of a hush-money payment to a former employee, with McMahon allegedly paying $3 million to the then-unnamed female, a WWE paralegal, to keep their “consensual” affair private. Following the investigation, he returned to WWE in July 2023.
However, on Thursday, the woman — Janel Grant, who was hired in the specially made role of “administrator-coordinator” in WWE’s legal department — filed a lawsuit against McMahon, WWE head of talent relations John Laurinaitis, and the wrestling company outlining years of alleged sexual assaults.
In a statement issued Friday, McMahon denied the allegations. “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,” he claimed. “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, effective immediately,” he added.
Among the allegations in the lawsuit, is McMahon’s demands that Grant make herself sexually available to both himself and Laurinaitis (who is also named in the suit), as well as unnamed “WWE Corporate Officers” and a “WWE Superstar.” Grant also accused McMahon of degraded her and in one incident, said that named and Laurinaitis locked her in an office and raped her.
McMahon has been a prominent figured within WWE for decades. He took over the organization in 1982 from his father and founder of the then-World Wrestling Federation, Vincent J. McMahon.
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