As noted before, former WWE employee Janel Grant filed a lawsuit this past January against former TKO Executive Chairman Vince McMahon accusing McMahon of committing sex trafficking and sexual abuse towards her during her time in the company. McMahon released an official statement this past Monday claiming that the producers for the recently released Mr. McMahon docuseries on Netflix had purposely misrepresented and created a deceptive portrayal of the “Mr. McMahon” character and his true self.
In an official statement sent on Friday to Wrestlenomics’ Brandon Thurston, Grant’s PR team sent a press release cataloging comments and allegations against McMahon and WWE as examples of McMahon and WWE’s “toxic culture. Several of the examples listed were taken from the recently released Mr. McMahon docuseires while others were from statements made elsewhere by former WWE female talents and others.
What They’re Saying: Inside Vince McMahon and WWE’s Toxic Culture
Netflix’s “Mr. McMahon” has pulled back the curtain on how former WWE CEO Vince McMahon created a toxic culture of misogyny, exploitation, abuse and sexual harassment at the company. But the six-part docuseries has just only scratched the surface of McMahon’s criminal and horrific behavior and doesn’t tell the full story of his abuse, sexual assault, and human trafficking of Janel Grant.
Take a look at what former WWE employees, pro-wrestlers, and reporters have illuminated about McMahon and WWE’s toxic culture throughout the years:
* A wrestling blog recently uncovered a clip of a WWE storyline in which McMahon engaged in lewd behavior with a female employee and made light of sexually trafficking his own daughter, Stephanie McMahon.
* In 1999, former WWE wrestler Sable sued WWE, alleging sexual harassment and unsafe working conditions. When asked by Jay Leno about the complaint, Sable responded, “they [WWE] were making me do things I did not want to do.”
* “Mr. McMahon” has generated media interest in decades-old allegations from WWE referee Rita Chatterton, in which she accused McMahon of forcing her to perform sexual acts on him in his limousine.
* Female wrestler Mercedes Moné said she left WWE because she didn’t like the way McMahon talked down to her, saying she had to “stand up for herself.”
* In a USA Today op-ed, reporter Jordan Mendoza wrote that McMahon once wanted to do a storyline where his daughter, Stephanie, was pregnant and McMahon was the father. Stephanie immediately shut it down and McMahon himself laughed remembering it.
* In response to the allegations of abuse, sexual assault, and human trafficking against McMahon, Bret “the Hitman” Hart, a former WWE wrestler outlined that the alleged abuse is “too sick and disgusting to really imagine” noting the details of the complaint “sound like Vince.” Hart also indicated that “I don’t think this is the only incident of this kind of predatory behavior,” and “I think you’ll find that it’s everywhere in [WWE].” In a separate interview, Hart also said “knowing what kind of a weirdo he [McMahon] became, I have absolutely zero respect for him”
* WWE wrestler Kevin Owens also weighed in on the allegations of abuse against McMahon, “there’s really no words to describe how sad this makes me feel,” and “It’s shameful, and it can’t ever happen again. That’s really all it comes down to.”
* Former WWE champion Ronda Rousey described an incident where a male wrestler grabbed the drawstring of her pants as an example of the toxic company culture at WWE. Rousey wrote in her autobiography, “It’s hard sometimes to know where the evil, unethical, slimeball character of Vince McMahon played out for the cameras ends and the actual questionably ethical, many times sued, and multiple times accused of sexual misconduct Vince McMahon begins.” In a NewsNation interview, Rousey said, “I was not surprised when I heard there was yet another lawsuit,” against McMahon.
* Former WWE wrestler Ashley Massaro alleged she was injected with a paralyzing drug and raped by someone representing himself as a U.S. Army doctor while on tour with WWE in Kuwait in 2006. Massaro also accused McMahon of telling her not to talk about the incident in order to protect WWE’s relationship with the military. Massaro later died by suicide.
* On the “Eyes Up Here Podcast” former WWE wrestler, Francine Meeks, outlined her experience working for McMahon: “When I worked there I was told by sometime higher up, if you wanna be seen you need to go get a bottle of rubbing oil all over my boobs and knocking on Vince’s door, and going in there, and leaning on his desk and trying to get noticed. That’s what I was told to do.”
* Gail Kim, former WWE wrestler, has been vocal on the racism and microaggressions she experienced working for McMahon and WWE.
* Nikki Bella, TV personality and former WWE wrestler, said in an interview “When Brie and I won Diva of the Year [in 2013], we got in trouble and I got yelled at,” by McMahon. Bella told viewers, “I felt like it [the win] was the first time he lost control of what he could make and could not make.”
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