A former WWE employee, who filed a lawsuit against the company and former leader Vince McMahon for alleged sexual assault and trafficking, has requested that non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) with other former employees and contractors not be enforced. The goal is to allow them to present potential similar accusations.
The request was made via a letter sent by email on Monday by Janel Grant’s lawyer to the lawyers representing WWE, McMahon, and John Laurinaitis, a former WWE executive and wrestler, in Grant’s lawsuit.
McMahon’s spokesperson, Curtis Vogel, declined to comment. Attorneys for WWE and Laurinaitis did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Monday night. No responses were obtained from WWE and its parent companies, Endeavor Group Holdings and its subsidiary, TKO Group Holdings.
McMahon, former chairman and CEO of WWE, has denied Grant’s allegations.
Grant, who worked in WWE’s legal and talent departments from 2019 to 2022, sued the company, McMahon, and Laurinaitis in January, presenting detailed accusations of sexual assault, harassment, trafficking, and other physical and emotional abuse.
McMahon resigned as WWE’s chief executive officer in 2022, amid an internal investigation into allegations similar to those in Grant’s lawsuit. He also stepped down as executive chairman of the TKO Group Holdings board of directors in January, one day after Grant filed her lawsuit.
If WWE and its parent company Endeavor are serious about separating themselves from Vince McMahon and the toxic work culture he created, their executives should have no problem releasing former WWE employees from their NDAs. This is the first step in rehabilitating a company that covered up decades of sexual assault and human trafficking.
Ann Callis, Grant’s attorney
McMahon previously responded to Grant’s lawsuit with a statement calling it “rife with lies, fabricated obscene instances that never happened, and a vindictive distortion of the truth.” His lawyers stated in court documents that he had a consensual relationship with Grant and that he never abused her.
Laurinaitis’s lawyer has denied the accusations and stated that Laurinaitis was also a victim in the case.
Grant said she was pressured to leave her job at WWE and sign a $3 million non-disclosure agreement. The lawsuit also seeks to have the agreement declared invalid, alleging that McMahon breached the agreement by giving her $1 million and not paying the rest.
According to The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the agreements and reviewed documents, four other women, all formerly affiliated with WWE, signed agreements with McMahon that prevented them from speaking about their relationships with him. Grant was not among those women, according to her representatives.
In December 2022, McMahon agreed to pay a former wrestling referee millions of dollars to settle her accusations that he raped her in 1986, the Journal also reported. McMahon claimed the alleged sexual assault never happened, and his lawyer said he settled to avoid costly litigation.
Grant’s request to WWE, based in Stamford, Connecticut, to waive the enforcement of the NDAs is similar to those made to other companies when allegations of sexual misconduct arose.
In 2018 and 2019, respectively, The Weinstein Co. and NBC Universal released employees, former employees, and others from the NDAs made in relation to the allegations of sexual misconduct against film mogul Harvey Weinstein and “Today” host Matt Lauer.
Victims’ lawyers call NDAs instruments to silence accusers, while allowing alleged abusers to avoid accountability. A federal law passed in 2022 and similar laws in more than a dozen states limit the use of NDAs that prevent sexual harassment victims from speaking publicly about their accusations.
Grant alleges that McMahon forced her to have a sexual relationship with him to get and keep a job, and later ordered her to have sex with others, including Laurinaitis. She also accuses McMahon and Laurinaitis of sexually assaulting her at WWE headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut.
The lawsuit further alleges that McMahon recruited other people to have sex with Grant, shared pornographic photos and videos of her with other men, including WWE employees, despite having said he wouldn’t, and subjected her to cruel and humiliating acts.
McMahon bought the then World Wrestling Federation in 1982 and transformed it from a regional wrestling company into a global phenomenon. In addition to running the company with his wife, Linda, he also performed at WWE events as himself.
