STAMFORD, Conn. — Wrestling icon Vince McMahon resigned from WWE’s parent company on Friday, the day after a former employee filed a federal lawsuit accusing him and another former executive of serious sexual misconduct, including offering her to a star wrestler for sex.
McMahon has stepped down as executive chairman of the board of directors of WWE’s parent company, TKO Group Holdings, according to a statement released late Friday. He continued to deny wrongdoing after the lawsuit filed by Janel Grant, who worked in the company’s legal and talent departments.
The lawsuit includes allegations that McMahon, now 78, forced Grant into a sexual relationship to get her to get and keep a job, and that he passed pornographic photos and videos of her to other men, including other WWE employees.
The AP does not typically name accusers in sexual assault cases, but Grant’s representatives said she wanted to make this public. Her attorney declined to comment Friday.
McMahon’s statement said he was leaving the board “out of respect” for WWE and TKO Group.
“I stand by my previous statement that Ms. Grant’s lawsuit is full of lies, obscene fabrications that never happened, and is a vindictive distortion of the truth,” he said in the statement. “I intend to vigorously defend myself against these baseless allegations and look forward to clearing my name.”
McMahon resigned as CEO of WWE in 2022 amid an investigation into allegations similar to those in the lawsuit, which was filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Connecticut, where WWE is based.
McMahon was the leader and most recognizable face in WWE for decades. When he bought what was then the World Wrestling Federation from his father in 1982, wrestling matches took place in small venues and appeared on local cable channels. WWE matches are now held in professional sports stadiums, and the organization has a significant following abroad.
WWE merged with the company that runs Ultimate Fighting Championship last April to create the $21.4 billion sports-entertainment company TKO Group Holdings, and McMahon served as executive chairman of that group’s board of directors until Friday.
The TKO Group representative referred media questions about McMahon’s resignation to his statement. Deadline first reported that he resigned.
“Mr. McMahon has no control over TKO nor does he oversee the day-to-day operations of WWE,” TKO Group said earlier this week. “While this matter predates our TKO management team’s tenure with the company, we take the gruesome allegations made by Ms Grant very seriously and we are discussing this matter internally.”
Grant also names as defendants in the lawsuit the WWE and John Laurinaitis, an ex-pro wrestler and former head of talent relations and general manager of the company. WWE and Laurinaitis did not return requests for comment Friday.
According to the lawsuit, McMahon lived in the same building as Grant and in 2019 offered to get her a job with WWE after her parents died.
She claims he eventually made it clear that one of the requirements of the job was a physical relationship with him, and later with Laurinaitis and others.
Over the next few years, McMahon showered her with gifts, including a luxury car, the complaint said.
It’s also alleged that McMahon offered one of his star wrestlers — an individual not named in the lawsuit — sex with Grant as a perk in 2021.
“WWE benefited financially from the commercial sex act orchestrated by McMahon, including because wrestling talent, such as WWE Superstar, signed new contracts with WWE after McMahon represented Plaintiff as a sexual asset for their use,” the lawsuit states.
Grant is seeking unspecified monetary damages and wants the court to void a $3 million non-disclosure agreement, of which she claims she received only $1 million.
“Ms. Grant hopes her lawsuit will prevent other women from being victimized,” her attorney, Ann Callis, said in a statement Thursday. “The organization is well aware of Mr. McMahon’s history of depraved behavior, and the It is time for them to take responsibility for the misconduct of its leadership.”