Vince McMahon, the longtime brains behind WWE, has resigned from his role as the wrestling company’s executive chairman and his position on the board of TKO Group Holdings on Friday following allegations of sexual assault and sex trafficking from a former employee.
His resignation comes one day after Janel Grant, a former WWE Headquarters employee, filed a lawsuit against McMahon seeking damages and a judgment that would make a nondisclosure agreement she signed “void and unenforceable.”
She alleges that McMahon pushed her into a “physical relationship in return for long-promised employment at WWE,” as well as coerced her into having sex with other WWE staffers, including John Laurinaitis, former head of talent relations.
Nick Khan, president of WWE, sent an email to some staffers on Friday.
“I wanted to inform you that Vince McMahon has tendered his resignation from his positions as TKO Executive Chairman and on the TKO Board of Directors,” Khan said. “He will no longer have a role with TKO Group Holdings or WWE.”
McMahon said in a statement to USA Today he plans 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, effective immediately,” McMahon continued.
The lawsuit claims that McMahon said his wife, Linda, who served as the administrator of the Small Business Administration during the Trump administration, discovered the alleged relationship between him and Grant and he “wanted to ensure that Grant would remain silent about his personal misconduct in order to preserve his controlling interest in WWE.” Though the two sides agreed on a $3 million payment for Grant signing the NDA, she claims she only received $1 million.
Grant is asking for the NDA to be ruled invalid under state and federal law because McMahon broke the agreement and engaged in sex trafficking.
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“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 in his statement to the outlet.
McMahon’s resignation comes a day before the organization’s annual Royal Rumble event, which is typically one of their most viewed events on the calendar. It also came hours after Slim Jim, which has long collaborated with WWE, announced a pause in its sponsorship of the company, citing the “disturbing” allegations against McMahon.
