By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
Executive chairman of TKO Group Holdings Vince McMahon is accused of sex trafficking in a lawsuit filed by a former WWE employee. Janel Grant filed a lawsuit in a Connecticut federal court on Thursday claiming that she was abused and sexually exploited by McMahon. Former WWE executive John Laurinaitis is also listed as a defendant. The Wall Street Journal shared details from the lawsuit, which includes Grant accusing McMahon and Laurinaitis of locking her in an office and taking turns sexually assaulting her.
Grant’s lawsuit also alleges that eight days later, McMahon locked her inside his private locker room at WWE headquarters and forced himself on her over a massage table. She claims that McMahon’s personal assistant delivered $15,000 in Bloomingdale’s gift cards to her after the incident. Grant also accused McMahon of forcing her to perform oral sex the last time they met in 2022. Read more at WSJ.com.
Update: Read the full lawsuit here.
Powell’s POV: The lawsuit excerpts run by WSJ are extremely graphic, so read them at your own risk. Grant entered into a $3 million nondisclosure agreement with McMahon in 2022 and said he later refused to pay the full amount because he accused her of leaking information to the media. The lawsuit also accuses McMahon of instructing Grant to create personalized sexual content for a WWE wrestler he was trying to re-sign. Although the wrestler is not named in the lawsuit, he is listed as a UFC fighter and WWE talent, and WSJ’s report said people familiar with the matter identified Brock Lesnar. Grant claims that after the wrestler re-signed with WWE, McMahon texted her that part of the deal “was f—ing U.” The lawsuit claims that McMahon attempted to traffic Grant to the wrestler, but she and the wrestler did not meet. The WSJ story adds that they reached out to reps for McMahon, Laurinaitis, and Lesnar, but none immediately responded on Thursday.
I think the Genetic Jackhammer’s days in WWE are done.
Now let’s see if corporate does what they’ve done with so many others by removing all references and clips of VKM, or will they by hypocrites?
He’ll probably be on Smackdown tomorrow so their fans can chant “Thank you Vince” again.
A whole lot of judgement being passed with no evidence. That part seems to have become the norm.
The text messages don’t read like anything I would have expected from Vince, but I also wouldn’t be at all surprised if it’s him.
It seems like the wrestler is either Lesnar or Riddle, but if the actual documents say former UFC champ and not just fighter then it’s got to be Brock.
If this is all true then I hope Ms. Grant gets every penny she’s seeking and that Vince and Brock never again see the light of day on WWE TV.
He has been accused of numerous sexual assaults, including a rape, and paid EVERY woman off. I’m sure you know that. But of course, self-righteous hypocrites like you just keep on watchin’. Odd that the guy who owned the wrestling show you watch isn’t considered “gouty” by you yet, but other times we are supposed to automatically believe the woman. You’re a typical piece of shit liberal hypocrite.
I agree he’s a hypocrite – one of the worst I’ve ever seen in my years on this site, but he’s no Liberal.
Everyone Angry Mike disagrees with is a liberal (in his warped mind).
Why would anyone keep going back to work after being raped?
Read the whole thing and you will see why. There was a(n alleged) pattern of coercive behaviour where she was totally reliant on VKM. Horrible to read.
There’s always been something creepy about Vince and it’s never been more evident when you go back and watch old Attitude Era raws as well as ruthless aggression era Raws.
This is the same dude who kissed his own daughter on camera and sexualized his daughter on TV, pretty sure everybody remembers that shot of Stephanie McMahon in the office that starts from her feet and pans all the way up to her ass in a mini skirt. Dude has always gave me major douche chills
I wonder if that’s why the Rock was appointed to the board, to keep a WWE/family interest there.
it’s about the money. If she had gotten paid the full 3 million this would not have happened. Not taking away Vince being a POS….but I have a feeling she likes money more than Justice. Repugnant all around.
I love how this statement from TKO sounds exactly like the write off WWE would use for their wrestlers. From a Yahoo article:
A spokesperson for TKO Group Holdings, the parent company of WWE and UFC, said in a statement: “Mr. McMahon does not control TKO nor does he oversee the day-to-day operations of WWE. While this matter predates our TKO executive team’s tenure at the company, we take Ms. Grant’s horrific allegations very seriously and are addressing this matter internally.”