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Vince McMahon is once again facing a lawsuit, this time from five former “ring boys” who claim the wrestling mogul did nothing to prevent them from being exploited and sexually abused while they worked as underage employees for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).
The court caseFiled anonymously this week in a Maryland court against McMahon, his wife Linda, WWE and its parent company, TKO Group Holdings, includes allegations that the parties allowed “overt, rampant abuse” of ring boys as young as 12, who worked with announcer Melvin Phillips Jr. . in the eighties and nineties.
Phillips, who died in 2012, is the alleged perpetrator of the abuse, and the lawsuit alleges that he groomed and abused young boys after recruiting them to help set up the ring and run errands for the traveling broadcast of WWE.
“Phillips’ real motivation in luring the ring boys with the promise of access to popular WWE events was to sexually assault them,” the complaint said. “And Vince McMahon knew it, admitting that he was aware at least as far back as the 1980s that Phillips had a ‘peculiar and unnatural interest’ in young boys.”
The law firm representing the plaintiffs said Phillips targeted children from broken homes, but the abuse occurred “in plain sight,” often in wrestling venues and hotel rooms while on tour.
“Thanks to the courage of our clients, we finally have the opportunity to hold accountable those who allowed and enabled the open, rampant sexual abuse of these young boys,” said Greg Gutzler, a partner at DiCello Levitt, in An press release shared by wrestling reporter Brandon Thurston.
Jessica Rosenberg, an attorney for McMahon, told USA Today that the accusations are “false claims” and stem from New York Post columnist Phil Mushnick’s reporting on the alleged abuse 32 years ago.
“The negligence claims brought against Mr McMahon today are based on this the same absurd, defamatory and completely worthless statements by Mr. Mushnick. We will vigorously defend Mr. McMahon and are confident that the court will find these claims to be untrue and without merit,” Rosenberg said in a statement.
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While Phillips was fired for a short time in 1988, he was rehired just six weeks later with a warning to “stay away from children,” the filing alleges.
“By rehiring him, the defendants allowed Phillips to continue abusing innocent children,” the complaint said.
It’s the latest lawsuit against McMahon and his brand. Both are under renewed scrutiny following the recent Netflix broadcast Mr. McMahon docuseries started streaming; the series delves into the problematic and pervasive behind-the-scenes issues of the WWE.
In 2022, McMahon stepped down as CEO and chairman of WWE amid an investigation into alleged misconduct, but returned to the WWE as executive chairman six months later.
At the time, the Wall Street Journal reported that McMahon agreed to pay more than $12 million over the past sixteen years to suppress allegations of sexual misconduct and infidelity.
Six months after his return, in January this year, he was hit with another harrowing lawsuit – this time from ex-WWE employee Janel Grant, who accused McMahon of emotionally and physically abusing her, defecating on her body during group sex and insisting that they have sex with him and other men.
Grant said she feared she would be fired if she didn’t stand up to McMahon’s abuses.
McMahon disputed the allegations, saying in a statement earlier this year: “I stand by my previous statement that Ms. Grant’s lawsuit is full of lies, obscene fabrications that never happened, and a vindictive distortion of the truth.”
© 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
Michelle Butterfield
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