Former WWE employee Janel Grant’s sex trafficking and sexual abuse lawsuit against former WWE Chairman Vince McMahon, former WWE Head of Talent Relations John Laurinaitis, and WWE as a company continues to move forward. The lawsuit came to fruition this past January and resulted in McMahon resigning from WWE and his longtime family business distancing itself from him completely. Laurinaitis had already been fired from WWE in August 2022. The defendants have since pushed for the lawsuit to exit a federal court setting and be settled via private arbitration. In the time since that statement, the Department of Justice has been conducting an ongoing investigation.
Earlier this week, Grant’s legal team is calling for WWE to waive non-disclosure agreements that several former WWE employees are under in relation to their histories with McMahon.
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The full letter requesting the NDA waivers has since been released.
Within the written statement, Grant’s team calls on WWE to show that it is “truly committed to change” by allowing “survivors to speak their truth without fear of reprisal.” WWE Chief Content Officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque said at the WWE Royal Rumble press conference, his first public appearance since Grant’s lawsuit was filed, that the company does “everything possible” to ensure people in positions of power cannot take advantage of employees within WWE.
The letter calls on both “former and current employees and contractors” to be allowed to speak out without fear of reprisal.
In the wake of Netflix’s Mr. McMahon docuseries, a six-episode case study on Vince’s bipolarity (or lack thereof) when it came to him as a human being vs. him as an on-screen character, Grant’s team had previously said that the docuseries only “scratches the surface” of McMahon’s criminal behavior. The letter adds that what has been “publicly reported” is only “part of the picture,” noting that witnesses have spoken to Grant’s team confidentially and detailed a “sexualized culture at WWE” that “victimizes women and men.” It adds that many victims are “currently afraid to come forward” due to NDAs in place. McMahon has paid over $12 million to at least four women in the past to ensure they remain quiet regarding his sexual misconduct.
“Forced silence only deepens the wounds of sexual abuse,” Grant’s team’s letter concludes. “Survivors are revictimized every time they are muzzled and forced to live in fear of attack from a multi-billion-dollar business that can hire an army of lawyers to bury them in legal fees if they speak the truth. Even unenforceable NDAs, like the one our client was coerced to sign, have a chilling effect because individuals do not have the will or resources to fight them. WWE must clarify that any NDAs that it has entered are not intended to prevent disclosure of sexual misconduct, abuse, or assault, and disclaim and waive any claims it may have under those NDAs if current or former employees and contractors choose to speak out. WWE wants people to believe the company has changed, this is its chance to prove it.”
Stay tuned to ComicBook for updates on Grant’s lawsuit.
