World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) co-founder Vince McMahon has denied committing lewd acts described in a new lawsuit filed Thursday by a former employee of the company.
The 78-year-old nevertheless resigned from his position as president of the WWE and gave up his seat on the board of TKO, which has owned WWE and the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) since 2023.
Janel Grant, who worked at the company's professional wrestling headquarters, described being physically and emotionally tortured by McMahon. She accuses him of non-consensual publication of an intimate image, sexual assault and human trafficking.
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She described in disturbing detail how he allegedly defecated on her body during a threesome sexual encounter and forced her to have sex with him and other men. He also allegedly shared pornographic photos of her.
Grant was unemployed and met McMahon in March 2019. He quickly offered her a job as an administrative coordinator. During a job interview, he is said to have greeted the woman in her underwear.
The WWE giant is also said to have forcibly used sex toys with the alleged victim. In her suit, she also described how he named “dildos” after wrestlers and based on their skin color.
The person who left his post in 2022 allegedly served as a “sexual pawn” to convince a female wrestler to sign a new contract, with McMahon suggesting she could “do anything asked of her.”
McMahon denies everything
A spokesman for McMahon told the media portal Deadline that he “will vigorously defend himself.”
“The charges are full of lies, fabricated indecent incidents that never happened and a vindictive distortion of the truth,” he said.
The American resigned as CEO and commissioner of WWE in 2022 when he was accused of paying $12 million to four women over 16 years to silence them. He returned to the post in January of the following year.
TKO officials responded by saying they are taking the matter very seriously.
“Mr. McMahon does not control TKO or oversee the day-to-day operations of WWE. Although this matter predates our TKO management team's tenure with the company, we take Ms. Grant's horrific allegations very seriously and are addressing this matter internally.”
It was also the company's former executive producer, John Laurinaitis, who was targeted by Janel Grant's allegations.