EXCLUSIVE: Slammed by allegations of rape, defecation, sex trafficking and more, Vince McMahon is out at WWE and UFC parent company TKO Group Holdings.
“I stand by my prior statement that Ms. Grant’s lawsuit is replete with lies, obscene made-up instances that never occurred, and is a vindictive distortion of the truth,” McMahon said this evening. “I intend to vigorously defend myself against these baseless accusations, and look forward to clearing my name.
“However, out of respect for the WWE Universe, the extraordinary TKO business and its board members and shareholders, partners and constituents, and all of the employees and Superstars who helped make WWE into the global leader it is today, I have decided to resign from my executive chairmanship and the TKO board of directors, effectively immediately.””
The abrupt exit spawned by ex-WWE staffer Janel Grant’s detailed and shocking suit of January 25. A McMahon spokesperson on Thursday, called Grant’s lawsuit “replete with lies” and said their client would fight it in court.
While sudden, McMahon’s exit from his TKO perch amidst the sexual abuse allegations follows his ouster in 2022 from the WWE he co-founded due to “alleged executive misconduct.” That misconduct, which named WWE talent relations chief John Laurinaitis, came as scores of multi-million dollar payoffs to former female employees and others were made public.
One of those revelations included a $3 million payoff to a woman McMahon had an affair with. In her complaint, Grant says McMahon agreed to pay her $3 million in 2022 to keep their sexual relationship quiet if she signed an NDA. Now seeking to get that NDA neutered, Grant signed it at the time, but says she has only received $1 million from McMahon so far.
Named as a defendant in Grant’s suit, Laurinaitis left WWE in 2022. Though canned from the company by the WWE board in early 2022, McMahon returned not long afterwards, put a new board in place and completed the sale of WWE to Endeavor and the formation of TKO last year. In her suit, Grant refers to the internal probe into claims against McMahon as a “sham.”
Having previously boasted about McMahon’s role in the Endeavor-owned company, TKO, where Ari Emanuel is CEO, said yesterday after Janel Grant’s assault and abuse lawsuits was filed that Mr. McMahon does not control TKO nor does he oversee the day-to-day operations of WWE.” They went on to distance themselves from McMahon by adding: “While this matter pre-dates our TKO executive team’s tenure at the company, we take Ms. Grant’s horrific allegations very seriously and are addressing this matter internally.”
This latest suit against McMahon was filed just over 48 hours after it was announced that TKO had made a 10-year, $5 billion deal with Netflix for the streamer to get in the ring starting next year with WWE‘s Monday Night Raw, as well as other programs from the company.
