OAN Staff Blake Wolf
11:07 AM – Thursday, October 24, 2024
Vince McMahon, the former CEO of WWE, and the WWE itself is facing yet another lawsuit, stemming from the purported sexual abuse of five “ring boys” by a ring announcer in the 1980s.
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The suit was filed by five unidentified men, all going by the moniker “John Does” in the suit, who named the WWE, TKO Group Holdings, and Vince and Linda McMahon as defendants. Linda is McMahon’s wife, and they first married in 1966.
Mel Phillips, who died back in 2012, is the accused sexual abuser in the case. The McMahon’s are accused of being aware of Phillips’ “peculiar and unnatural interest,” in young boys, without putting a stop to the alleged sexual abuse.
The plaintiffs allege that the abuse took place at wrestling events, hotels, and other venues in which they were “lured and manipulated” by Phillips, who isolated the boys while promising that they would meet their favorite wrestling stars.
The boys, sometimes as young as 12 and 13 years old, were told that they were hired to assist with various tasks like helping facilitate the wrestling shows, however, the suit claims that Phillips’ true intention in bringing them around “was to sexually abuse them.”
Additionally, the suit notes that Phillips would film the abuse of the underage boys in the dressing room, and that the abuse occasionally took place in front of company executives and wrestlers.
“The underage Ring Boys were groomed, exploited, and sexually abused by Phillips, who targeted children from broken homes,” stated law firms DiCello Levitt and Murphy, Falcon & Murphy.
“Thanks to the extraordinary courage of our clients, we now have the opportunity to hold accountable the WWE, and its leaders for the last 40-plus years, Vince and Linda McMahon, who enabled the rampant abuse of these young boys,” stated Greg Gutzler, a partner at DiCello Levitt.
McMahon allegedly fired Phillips in 1988, after related allegations surfaced regarding the announcer’s conduct. However, he rehired him six weeks later with the stipulation that he would “steer away from kids.” The suit continues, claiming “He did not [stop the abuse], and they [McMahon and WWE] knew it.”
The lawsuit was aided by information released regarding a completely separate suit filed by former WWE employee Janel Grant, who has accused McMahon of sexual misconduct.
McMahon previously denied the allegations pertaining to Grant’s suit, stating “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.”
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