The wrestling world continues to hold Vince McMahon with bated breath. This past January, former WWE employee Janel Grant filed a lawsuit that alleged that McMahon had sexually abused her and sexually trafficked her to various co-workers during her time with the sports-entertainment company. While he has adamantly denied the allegations, McMahon would resign from WWE and its parent company TKO just over one day after the lawsuit was filed. WWE has soldiered on, moving forward without McMahon towards what is anticipated to be the biggest WrestleMania of all time this April. That said, some of its talent have acknowledged the situation in interviews.
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WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins said he felt “disgusting” when reading about it. Hall of Famer Bret Hart denounced his former boss altogether. Now, one of WWE’s biggest stars of all time has broken his silence on the matter.
John Cena Responds to Vince McMahon Allegations
Speaking on The Howard Stern Show, John Cena made his first public comments on the sex trafficking lawsuit filed against Vince McMahon.
“I don’t think it’s complicated to talk about. It’s complicated to listen to. That’s why I don’t necessarily put a lot of time and equity into it. There’s still a long way to go,” Cena said. “I can say this, I’m a big advocate of love and friendship and honesty, and communication, in the same breath, I’m also a big advocate of accountability. If someone’s behavior lies so far outside of your value system that the balance shifts of, ‘I can’t operate in a world where this works,’ that’s the end result of being accountable.”
Cena spent over 15 years with WWE as a full-time wrestler, eventually becoming the company’s top star in the late 2000s. This led to Cena and McMahon developing a fairly close relationship, one they maintain to this day.
“Right now, I’m gonna love the person I love, be their friend. ‘I love you, you have a hill to climb.’ There is the saying of, ‘You don’t know who your friends are until s–t hits the fan or your back is against the wall.’ That doesn’t make any of what’s going on any easier to swallow,” Cena continued. “I’ve openly said, I love the guy, I have a great relationship with the guy, and that’s that. It’s largely my construct of operating with honesty and communication.
“Those are strong leads to handling any problem or achievement. The whole thing is super unfortunate and it sucks. It deals with an individual I love and an entity I love. I want everyone to have the experience that I have. Not only do I tell a friend that I love them, but I switch to the entity and say, ‘How can I help?’”
Stay tuned to ComicBook.com for updates on McMahon’s future following the lawsuit.
