Several Former WWE Writers Accuse Vince McMahon of Creating Hostile & Sexist Environment in WWE

Rolling Stone’s Kristie Lee Yandoli recently released an article detailing interviews she had with six former WWE writers over their allegations of Vince McMahon creating a hostile and sexist workplace environment in WWE.

Of the six former writers, only Michael Leonardi went on record with his name while the remainder spoke on the condition of anonymity over their fears of “retribution from the WWE, their former colleagues, and rabid wrestling fans.”

The majority of the former WWE writers interviewed reportedly worked for the company from 2016 to 2022 with time spans ranging from as little as four months to as long as five years.

Leonardi claimed that he was fired by WWE due to making a change to a Martin Luther King Jr. Day skit for RAW in 2016 that would have involved Neville, current PAC in AEW and indies, making a reference to King’s famous “I have a dream” speech. Leonardi stated that Neville did not want to say the line and WWE officials gave it to R-Truth instead. Leonardi stated that while his boss Dave Kapoor approved of the change, McMahon did not like it and lit into him and eventually fired him for being “not fit for the role.”

In an official statement given to Rolling Stones, McMahon’s representative stated that McMahon denied wrongdoing for that incident or any of the accusations made from the former WWE writers.

“Scores of writers could share tales of what an enjoyable, creative and freewheeling environment the WWE writers rooms were. This handful of (obviously disgruntled) individuals aren’t representative in any way of the consensus — or of the truth.”

In regards to this incident, it was stated “The spokesperson acknowledged that McMahon had “an extremely hands-on approach” with WWE scripts, adding, “That’s why the idea of him suggesting or approving the use of a famous Martin Luther King, Jr. quote for a punchline to be used by a white British character is so ridiculous. It simply didn’t happen.”

One former writer spoken to reportedly described WWE as being a “kingdom ruled by fear” where verbal abuse was commonplace and staff were afraid to challenge McMahon or his inner circle over these issues.

One former writer spoken to reportedly stated that something about McMahon’s changing scripts and directives felt almost sadistic in tone and him enjoying making people squirm.

The writer adds that there was something about McMahon’s changing directives that felt almost sadistic: “I think Vince enjoyed the manipulation. He liked changing things. He liked keeping people on their toes. I genuinely felt like, this isn’t to benefit the show or the storyline, Vince really just enjoys making people squirm.”

Besides McMahon, it was reported that other creative writers and officials who were in power positions were also accused of helping create an environment where writers were either for McMahon’s way or against them. This reportedly was done as a way to turn the writers against each other. These accusations reportedly also included unwelcome comments and physical contact within the creative staff.

One former writer spoken to described WWE’s workplace culture being a toxic boys club vibe and an alleged incident where one high level WWE official told a writer something to the extent of “I wish your dad pulled out and came on your mom’s tits instead of having you.” This same former writer also stated “This was, like, good old boys locker-room talk. The more someone was promoted and the closer they got to “that innermost circle. The more volatile it got, and the more you dealt with some of these ‘good old boys.’”

One former female WWE writer spoken to stated:

“They would touch me where they would have me come closer [to them]. They would pull me by my waist to come somewhere or move closer to them. I’m just super aware that it’s kind of close to my butt and most people don’t touch me by the waist ever. I thought, ‘This is strange.'”

Two former female WWE writers spoken to stated that they went to HR about the allegations with one of them being fired shortly afterwards. These same former writers also stated that there was a Zoom meeting held with all the writers about the issues but the reaction from senior leadership was not positive.

After the Zoom meeting, the writers who spoke with Rolling Stone say, there was an in-person meeting with the entire writers room in which senior leadership allegedly told everyone they were “acting like middle schoolers” and not to go to HR if they have any future problems.“

On the topic about the changes within WWE for the better since McMahon’s resignation and departure, Leonardi stated that he had heard of improvements in the workplace culture and called WWE CCO Paul “Triple H” Levesque as a “great leader.”

Others spoken to reportedly remained skeptical over the changes with one former writer stating:

“There are a lot of people complicit in continuing this culture. I am highly doubtful it’s changed, even with Triple H in charge. I just don’t think it really can.”

Yandoli reported that none of the former writers spoken to stated that they had direct knowledge of the accusations made in Janel Grant’s sex trafficking and sexual abuse lawsuit against McMahon, John Laurinaitis, and WWE.