Former WWE Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Vince McMahon was accused of sex trafficking by a former employee, whom he groomed, assaulted and passed around to colleagues for a time period of three years, from 2019 to 2022.
A new lawsuit was filed on Thursday (January 25) in which Janel Grant, the employee who was abused, claimed that after becoming her friend in 2019, the former WWE owner engaged with her in sexual relationships that had no boundaries and she was raped at the WWE headquarters and abused with toys named after multiple wrestlers. Not just that, she was also offered to others as part of contract negotiations.
McMahon left his position as CEO after WWE investigated the claims in 2022 and assumed a new role as Executive Chairman at the TKO Group Holdings.
"Mr. McMahon does not control TKO nor does he oversee the day-to-day operations of WWE. While this matter predates our TKO executive team’s tenure at the company, we take Ms. Grant’s horrific allegations very seriously and are addressing this matter internally,” a spokesperson for TKO said in a statement.
The case took a disturbing turn when a promo delivered by McMahon’s daughter, Stephanie, during a 2003 Smackdown storyline resurfaced where the implied that she was trafficked by her own father while she was just a teenager.
Speaking on Wrestling Observer Radio, former WWE Intercontinental and Tag Team champion Lance Storm said: "I think there needs to be a legitimate cleaning house of anyone who covered anything up, who knew about this. This is absolutely disgustingly horrible and Vince McMahon needs to be gone and done. And I hope there's criminal charges brought if any of this is even remotely true."