{"id":363156,"date":"2024-01-27T05:59:04","date_gmt":"2024-01-27T06:59:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=363156"},"modified":"2024-01-27T10:03:15","modified_gmt":"2024-01-27T10:03:15","slug":"wwe-boss-quits-amid-sexual-misconduct-lawsuit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=363156","title":{"rendered":"WWE boss quits amid sexual misconduct lawsuit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wrestling icon Vince McMahon has resigned from WWE<\/a>'s parent company TKO Group, a day after a former employee filed a federal lawsuit accusing him and another former executive of serious sexual misconduct, including offering her to wrestler for sex.<\/p>\n

The 78-year-old stepped down from his position as executive chairman of the board of directors, according to a statement released late Saturday (AEDT).<\/p>\n

The suit includes allegations that McMahon forced Grant into a sexual relationship in order for her to get and keep a job with WWE, as well as passing around pornographic pictures and videos of her to other men, including other WWE employees.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Djokovic's bold call after shock loss<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE: \ufeff<\/strong>Sinner's revelation after reaching final<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Deja vu hits West Indies on day two<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

McMahon has continued to deny wrongdoing following the lawsuit filed by Janel Grant, who previously worked in the company\u2019s legal and talent relations departments.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Grant\u2019s representatives said she wished to go public, with a lengthy article in the Wall Street Journal on Friday detailing the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

McMahon's statement claimed he was leaving the board \u201cout of respect\u201d for the pro wrestling company he created and turned into a global entertainment juggernaut over the past 40 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI stand by my prior statement that Ms. Grant\u2019s lawsuit is replete with lies, obscene made-up instances that never occurred, and is a vindictive distortion of the truth,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI intend to vigorously defend myself against these baseless accusations, and look forward to clearing my name.\u201d<\/p>\n

The news of McMahon's resignation came less than 24 hours before the Royal Rumble premium live event – one of WWE's trademark shows in the lead-up to WrestleMania.\ufeff<\/p>\n

McMahon previously stepped down as WWE\u2019s CEO in 2022 amid an investigation into allegations that match those in the lawsuit, but returned to the company to help negotiate the TKO merger.<\/p>\n

\"WWE<\/p>\n

McMahon was the leader and most recognisable face at WWE for decades. When he purchased what was then the World Wrestling Federation from his father in 1982, wrestling matches took place at small venues and appeared on local cable channels.<\/p>\n

He would turn it into a national touring product and eventually into a globally-recognised brand, holding major events in sports stadiums across the world and cultivating the successful careers of Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson, Hulk Hogan, John Cena and Dave Bautista.<\/p>\n

WWE merged last April with the company that runs Ultimate Fighting Championship to create the $21.4 billion sports entertainment company TKO Group, where McMahon served as that group\u2019s executive chairman of the board until his exit.<\/p>\n

Nick Khan now serves as the head honcho of the WWE side of the business, while the day-to-day operations are run by McMahon's son-in-law and legendary wrestler, Paul 'Triple H' Levesque.\ufeff<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/SeanRossSapp\/status\/1751055804369711363?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cMr. McMahon does not control TKO nor does he oversee the day-to-day operations of WWE,\u201d TKO Group said earlier this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile this matter pre-dates our TKO executive team\u2019s tenure at the company, we take Ms. Grant\u2019s horrific allegations very seriously and are addressing this matter internally.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grant also names as defendants in the lawsuit the WWE and John Laurinaitis, an ex-pro wrestler and the company\u2019s former head of talent relations and on-screen general manager.<\/p>\n

She alleges that he eventually made it clear that one of the requirements of the job was a physical relationship with him and later with Laurinaitis, as well as other WWE employees.<\/p>\n

Grant is seeking unspecified monetary damages and to have the court void a $3 million nondisclosure agreement, of which she alleges she received only $1 million.<\/p>\n

\u201cMs. Grant hopes that her lawsuit will prevent other women from being victimised,\u201d her attorney Ann Callis said this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe organisation is well aware of Mr. McMahon\u2019s history of depraved behaviour, and it\u2019s time that they take responsibility for the misconduct of its leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wrestling icon Vince McMahon has resigned from WWE's parent company TKO Group, a day after a former employee filed a federal lawsuit accusing him and […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":363158,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363156"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=363156"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363156\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":363161,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363156\/revisions\/363161"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/363158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=363156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=363156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=363156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}