- Vince McMahon resigned from the board of administrators of WWE’s dad or mum firm Friday night.
- The resignation follows a lawsuit from a former WWE worker accusing the WWE govt of sexual misconduct.
- McMahon referred to the intense accusations as “baseless” and mentioned he would defend himself in courtroom.
Wrestling icon Vince McMahon resigned Friday from WWE’s dad or mum firm the day after a former worker filed a federal lawsuit accusing him and one other former govt of significant sexual misconduct, together with providing her to a star wrestler for intercourse.
In line with an announcement launched late Friday, McMahon stepped down from the board of administrators at WWE’s dad or mum firm, TKO Group Holdings. He continued to disclaim wrongdoing following the lawsuit filed by Janel Grant, who labored within the firm’s authorized and expertise departments.
As an alternative, McMahon mentioned that his resignation was “out of respect” for WWE.
The go well with contains allegations that McMahon, now 78, compelled Grant right into a sexual relationship to ensure that her to get and hold a job and handed round pornographic photos and movies of her to different males, together with different WWE staff.
“I stand by my prior assertion that Ms. Grant’s lawsuit is replete with lies, obscene made-up cases that by no means occurred, and is a vindictive distortion of the reality,” he mentioned within the assertion. “I intend to vigorously defend myself towards these baseless accusations, and stay up for clearing my identify.”
In a Friday message, WWE President Nick Khan additionally up to date workers on the information, telling them McMahon would “now not have a task with TKO Group Holdings or WWE,” per a memo despatched to Enterprise Insider.
McMahon stepped down as WWE’s CEO in 2022 amid an investigation into allegations that match these within the lawsuit filed in US District Court docket in Connecticut, the place WWE is predicated.
The WWE board started investigating allegations that McMahon paid off accusers for his or her silence following his resignation as CEO.
Regardless of leaving his official publish, McMahon remained a controlling shareholder, and fewer than six months after the allegations, McMahon returned to the corporate as a member of the WWE board.
McMahon was the chief and most recognizable face at WWE for many years. When he bought what was then the World Wrestling Federation from his father in 1982, wrestling matches came about at small venues and appeared on native cable channels. WWE matches at the moment are held in skilled sports activities stadiums, and the group has a large abroad following.
WWE merged final April with the corporate that runs Final Combating Championship to create the $21.4 billion sports activities leisure firm TKO Group Holdings, and McMahon served as that group’s govt chairman of the board till Friday.
TKO Group Holdings referred Enterprise Insider to McMahon’s assertion.
“Mr. McMahon doesn’t management TKO nor does he oversee the day-to-day operations of WWE,” TKO Group mentioned earlier this week. “Whereas this matter pre-dates our TKO govt staff’s tenure on the firm, we take Ms. Grant’s horrific allegations very critically and are addressing this matter internally.”
Representatives for Grant didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark from Enterprise Insider.
