WWE Backstage Update Over Lee Fitting’s Misconduct Allegations in ESPN

As noted before, former ESPN Senior VP of Production Lee Fitting was hired by WWE as their new Head of Media and Production this past January following his firing from ESPN in August of 2023. Fitting’s firing was recently revealed to have been due to the allegations of him committing misconduct, including making sexually suggestive comments and objectifying comments, within the company for years towards female employees.

Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that it is currently not known if WWE President Nick Khan was aware of the allegations against Fitting prior to his hiring by the company. Fitting’s scandal involving him falsifying documents for the Emmy Awards won by ESPN’s College GameDay series reportedly was something WWE was not aware of prior to his hiring since none of it came out publicly at the time of his hiring.

Meltzer reported that while WWE has yet to give any official statement, one person spoken to within the company stated ghat they were aware of at least some of the issues with Fitting since they were public knowledge and the company still hired him despite it. This person reportedly stated “This is the baggage (the publicity) that comes with the hire.”

Another person spoken to reportedly stated “He’s no different from Vince (listed two other names that are well known, one no longer with the company, but never implicated in anything publicly) and Laurinaitis. They were all like that.”

Meltzer reported that this was not the first time that Khan ended up hiring someone to an executive position who had exited another company under a controversy. Khan reportedly was the person who had hired Jamie Horowitz as Executive Vice President of Development and Digital in 2021. Meltzer reported that Horowitz had been fired from FOX Sports in 2017 during a sexual harassment investigation against him that was well known. Meltzer also reported that at the time, there were several female employees within WWE who were very upset about Horowitz’s hiring due to his past issues being well known. Horowitz was later released from WWE in September of 2023 as part of a restructuring following the company’s merger with UFC to form TKO Group.