WWE Founder McMahon Resigns

UPDATE Jan 27, 2024 6:30 AM CST

Vince McMahon has cut ties with the WWE. The AP reports that the wrestling giant's 78-year-old founder resigned his position Friday as executive chair of the board of TKO Group Holdings, WWE's parent company, a day after former WWE staffer Janel Grant filed a suit accusing McMahon and an ex-WWE executive of serious sexual misconduct. "I intend to vigorously defend myself against these baseless accusations and look forward to clearing my name," McMahon said in a statement, noting he chose to step down "out of respect" for the WWE and TKO. He also describes Grant's complaint as "replete with lies, obscene made-up instances that never occurred" and calls it "a vindictive distortion of the truth." McMahon, who'd already walked away from his position as WWE chair in 2022, says his resignation is "effective immediately," per USA Today.

Jan 25, 2024 6:15 PM CST

A former WWE employee filed a lawsuit Thursday accusing Vince McMahon, the company, and a former executive with sex trafficking her. Janel Grant's filing in federal court in Connecticut says she was a victim of sexual abuse and physical and emotional abuse, NBC News reports. A lawyer for Grant said the suit seeks to hold McMahon, the founder of World Wrestling Entertainment, and the executive accountable, "as well as the organization that facilitated or turned a blind eye to the abuse and then swept it under the rug." Grant seeks compensatory and punitive damages.

The suit also calls for voiding a nondisclosure agreement that Grant signed in 2022 preventing her from discussing her relationship with McMahon or disparaging him. In return, he agreed to pay her $3 million, per the Wall Street Journal. The suit says McMahon stopped payments after the first $1 million. After receiving a tip the same year, the WWE launched an investigation that uncovered other payments by McMahon to other women. Federal prosecutors are investigating but haven't charged the former CEO. Of that investigation, McMahon said last year, "I have always denied any intentional wrongdoing and continue to do so."

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Accusations in the suit, per the Journal, include:

• Assault: McMahon and the other executive locked Grant in an office at WWE headquarters and took turns sexually assaulting her, the suit alleges.
• Gifts after attack: McMahon allegedly locked Grant in his private locker room at the office and forced himself on her. His assistant brought Grant $15,000 in Bloomingdale's gift cards later in the day, the suit says.
• Threatening text: The suit says McMahon sent Grant a message reading, "i'm the only one who owns U and controls who I want to f— U."
• Nude images: McMahon allegedly shared nude photos and explicit videos of Grant without consent with other employees and stars and told her to have sex with them.

(More Vince McMahon stories.)