If you’re an average human with no legal trouble to speak of, you are doing a heck of a lot better than Vince McMahon at the moment. Reports came out this morning about a lawsuit coming from a former writer at WWE, Britney Abrahams, alleging she was discriminated and retaliated against for objecting to “offensively racist and stereotypical jargon” used in scripts written for Black wrestlers like Bianca Belair and Apollo Crews.
examples used in the filing are:
• Belair being scripted to say “Uh-Uh! Don’t make me take off my earrings and beat your ass!“ The suit claims Belair also objected to line on three different occasions, but Kevin Dunn repeatedly put it back in her scripts.
• Crews being told to speak with a “stereotypical and exaggerated Nigerian accent”.
• Another writer allegedly proposing (in a Slack channel that included Vince and Stephanie McMahon) that a Muslim wrestler be revealed as hiding that he was “behind the 9/11 attacks.” Court documents specify the wrestler in question was Mansoor.
• A suggestion in that same Slack that a Black male wrestler appear in drag that Abrahams says was only scrapped after a White writer objected, saying it would “perpetuate harmful stereotypes that would offend viewers”.
• A pitch for Shane Thorne’s “crocodile hunter” character to hunt Reggie “for fun” that included discussions of holding the Black wrestler captive in a cage.
Cagesideseats.com by way of Bloomberg Law
You can read the filing here, It does include many of the higher ups in the company including a now departed, Stephanie McMahon as well.
The second one isn’t a lawsuit…yet. The law firm Julie & Holleman LLP is investigating the proposed merger between Endeavor Group Holdings, Inc. and World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., whereby the two entertainment giants will combine to form a new public company. That law firm represents Silver Lake, The private equity firm that controls 70 percent of Endeavor.
The Blog I did the day before the announcement stated that WWE shareholders would control 49 percent while Endeavor would control 51 percent.
From the Press Release about the investigation:
Julie & Holleman is investigating potential legal claims regarding the fairness of the merger terms and potential conflicts of interest. Among other things, Silver Lake may have interests that diverge from other shareholders’ interests, and it could be using its controlling stake to extract unfair benefits. Julie & Holleman is also concerned that the proposed merger might have driven the sale of its IMG business to another private equity firm.
The IMG Business is IMG Academy
Could this be a cash problem for which the sale helps out with? What else do you think could go wrong for Vince McMahon? For More Daily Sports News & Gambling Follow Us On: Twitter, Tik Tok, Instagram & Youtube.
