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World Wrestling Leisure (WWE) boss Vince McMahon has stop within the wake of sex-trafficking allegations from a former worker.
Janel Grant alleges Mr McMahon and one other ex-executive, John Laurinaitis, sexually assaulted and trafficked her to entice wrestling expertise.
Mr McMahon, 78, mentioned in an announcement that he had made the choice to resign as government chairman of TKO, the father or mother firm of WWE.
He has denied the allegations.
“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,” Mr McMahon mentioned in an announcement on Friday.
He added: “Out of respect for the WWE Universe, the extraordinary TKO enterprise and its board members and shareholders, companions and constituents, and the entire workers and Superstars who helped make WWE into the worldwide chief it’s at the moment, I’ve determined to resign from my government chairmanship and the TKO board of administrators, efficient instantly.”
In a employees memo obtained by ESPN, WWE president Nick Khan shared that “Vince McMahon has tendered his resignation from his positions as TKO Government Chairman and on the TKO Board of Administrators”.
“He’ll now not have a task with TKO Group holdings or WWE.”
Ms Grant, a former WWE worker, accused Mr McMahon and Mr Laurinaitis of trafficking her to different males “as a sexual pawn to entice world-famous wrestling expertise”. The BBC couldn’t attain Mr Laurinaitis for remark.
Ms Grant was unemployed on the time of assembly Mr McMahon and was coping with her deceased father or mother’s chapter.
The lawsuit alleges that Mr McMahon pressured her right into a bodily relationship, making her guarantees of a job at WWE.
In response to the authorized case, Ms Grant went on to work at WWE’s headquarters in Connecticut between 2019 and 2022.
She says she felt trapped “in an unimaginable state of affairs… submitting to Mr McMahon’s sexual calls for or going through spoil”.
The lawsuit alleges Mr McMahon “anticipated and directed Ms Grant to interact in sexual exercise on the WWE headquarters, even throughout working hours”.
She additionally accuses each defendants of sexually assaulting her at WWE headquarters in Connecticut of June 2021.
Again in 2022, the WWE board introduced an investigation over an alleged $3m (£2.5m) settlement between Mr McMahon and an ex-employee with whom he had a consensual affair.
The 78-year-old was changed as appearing chief government and chairperson by his daughter. In January 2023, he returned as WWE chairperson after the investigation ended.
In Thursday’s authorized submitting, Ms Grant known as the WWE’s particular committee investigation “a sham” and accused the corporate of making an attempt to “sweep the matter beneath the rug”. She says the committee by no means contacted her or requested paperwork from her.
Ms Grant’s lawyer, Ann Callis, mentioned in an announcement to the media that her shopper hopes the lawsuit “will forestall different girls from being victimised”.
Mr McMahon has overseen WWE’s progress right into a media juggernaut whose weekly content material is broadcast in additional than 180 international locations and 30 languages.
