Vince McMahon Resigns from WWE/UFC Parent Company Following Sexual Abuse and Trafficking Allegations

Vince McMahon has resigned as executive chairman of WWE/UFC’s parent company, TKO Group Holdings, effective immediately.

His resignation comes a day after former WWE employee Janel Grant sued McMahon, WWE and former senior vice president of talent relations John Laurinaitis, alleging she experienced “physical and emotional abuse, sexual abuse and trafficking” while working for the company.

“I stand by my previous statement that Ms. Grant’s lawsuit is full of lies, obscene fabrications that never happened and is a vindictive distortion of the truth. I intend to vigorously defend against these baseless allegations and look forward to clearing my name,” McMahon said in a statement. shared with PEOPLE.

“However, out of respect for the WWE Universe, the outstanding TKO business and its board members and shareholders, partners and constituents, and all the employees and Superstars who have helped make WWE the global leader it is today, I have decided to resign my executive chairmanship and board of directors. of TKO, which comes into force immediately,” the press release states.

Vince McMahon has been accused of abuse, sexual assault and human trafficking by a former WWE employee

Vince McMahon at the WWE Wrestlemania press conference on the 29th.

Michael N. Todaro/Getty

McMahon previously stepped down as WWE chairman and CEO in June 2022 and announced his retirement a month later, amid an investigation into allegations that he paid a former employee $3 million to cover up their affair.

The investigation was closed in November 2022, and McMahon was “unanimously” elected executive chairman of the board in January 2023,” according to a press release. When WWE and UFC merged in September to create TKO Group Holdings, McMahon appointed executive chairman.

“During several meetings allegedly related to a potential WWE job, he met her in her underwear, touched her, repeatedly asked for hugs and spent hours sharing intimate details about his personal life,” Grant said she experienced during her first meetings. with McMahon in a complaint obtained by PEOPLE.

Vince McMahon says allegations of misconduct have nothing to do with WWE-UFC merger

Vince McMahon during a press conference on January 8, 2014 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Ethan Miller/Getty

Grant claims that McMahon “pushed” her “into a physical relationship in exchange for a long-promised WWE employment.” She claims she was hired as a rookie for WWE’s legal department in June 2019 after she “bowed to pressure to have a physical relationship.”

The lawsuit alleges that McMahon began “sharing sexually explicit photos and videos” of Grant in March 2020 with “other men inside and outside the company” and that “coercion was inherent in his increasingly depraved sexual demands.”

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“McMahon recruited individuals to have sexual relations with Ms. Grant and/or the two of them, directed Ms. Grant to visit defendant Laurinaitis prior to the start of workdays for sexual intercourse, and expected and directed Ms. Grant to engage in sexual activity at headquarters of WWE, even during business hours,” the complaint reads.

It details the alleged physical interactions, which she described as “acts of extreme cruelty and humiliation.” After McMahon’s wife Linda found out about their relationship in January 2022, Grant was fired and signed an NDA “in exchange for payments,” which the lawsuit says McMahon later “stopped making.” He allegedly tried to “trade” her to a WWE star even after she left the company in March 2022.

If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual abuse, text “STRENGTH” to the crisis line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor.

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