WWE is being asked not to enforce nondisclosure agreements with its current and former employees and contractors in the wake of sexual trafficking allegations against former WWE co-founder Vince McMahon.
The request comes from Janel Grant who is suing McMahon, WWE and former company executive John Laurinaitis for various sexual misconduct claims.
“If WWE and its parent company Endeavor are serious about parting ways with Vince McMahon and the toxic workplace culture he created, their executives should have no problem with releasing former WWE employees from their NDAs,” Ann Callis, Grant’s attorney, said in a statement on Monday published by the Associated Press. “This is the first step to rehabilitating a company that covered up decades of sexual assault and human trafficking.”
The Associated Press reached out to the defendants’ teams for comment. A spokesperson for McMahon, Curtis Vogel, declined comment. WWE and Laurinaitis’ lawyers did not immediately respond to the publication, nor did WWE and its parent companies, Endeavor Group Holdings, and its subsidiary, TKO Group Holdings.
Grant sued McMahon and Laurinaitis in January, making graphic allegations of sexual assault, harassment, trafficking and other abuses. McMahon, who resigned as executive chairman of TKO’s board of directors after the lawsuit was filed, has denied Grant’s allegations. McMahon was also reportedly under federal investigation for sex trafficking.
Grant worked for WWE between 2019 and 2022. She signed a $3 million nondisclosure agreement with WWE. Grant’s lawsuit seeks to invalidate that agreement, claiming McMahon breached the deal by paying only $1 million.
Four other women formerly affiliated with WWE signed nondisclosure agreements, according to a 2022 report by The Wall Street Journal.
A federal law approved in 2022 and similar laws in more than a dozen states curb the use of NDAs to prevent sexual harassment victims from publicizing their allegations.
KVSP