Bret Hart has spoken at length about the Vince McMahon allegations.
January 25th was one of the darkest days in professional wrestling history as Vince McMahon was accused of sex trafficking and multiple accounts of sexual assault by former WWE employee Janel Grant. The disturbing details of the 67-page lawsuit alledges abhorrent behavior from McMahon and also implicates multiple executives within the company.
Hart, who has had animosity against McMahon for a number of years, would return to the company in 2010 to reconcile with the chairman and would make subsequent appearances on TV over the next few years. Speaking in a new interview about the allegations, Hart held nothing back when talking about McMahon.
While being interviewed by Slate, Hart stated that he had no issues being honest about his feelings as McMahon had little regard for his own:
“I’m going to speak my truth. I’m not worried about Vince’s feelings. He’s never cared about mine. I don’t have any problem with everybody kicking his head around the parking lot,” Hart said. “I’m OK with the truth coming out.”
The full lawsuit contains extremely graphic depictions of McMahon’s alleged sexual assault, which Hart admitted he couldn’t get through:
“When you get that vision in your head, you go, ‘That’s messed up,’ ” Hart said. “It’s too sick and disgusting to really imagine.”
The lawsuit also contains multiple screenshots of graphic text messages sent to Grant, which Hart described as “They sound like Vince.”
As previously mentioned, other WWE employees are implicated in the lawsuit, highlighting the toxic culture of the promotion. Hart is under the belief that more will be uncovered as time goes on:
“I don’t think this is the only incident of this kind of predatory behavior,” Hart said. “I think you’ll find that it’s everywhere in [WWE].” It’s kind of like The Godfather: You never know when a guy like Vince will be your enemy again over something you say or do. He’s the Teflon guy. You just can’t seem to get anything on him. He’s just too powerful, got too much money.”
“Vince Will Always Be Associated With This Story”: Bret Hart
Using previous examples, Hart continued his assessment by noting that no matter what happens, this story will stay with McMahon forever:
“It’s like Jeffrey Dahmer, Harvey Weinstein, or Jeffrey Epstein: Vince will be a joke,” Hart said. “He’ll be used for humor, and you’ll shake your head at the shock value of some joke about, ‘What did Vince McMahon do?’ He’ll always be associated with this story, especially as it gets bigger and bigger and bigger.”
Despite his previous animosity towards the disgraced former Chairman, Hart has always maintained a level of respect for McMahon. However, in light of recent events, Hart concluded by stating that all respect has now gone:
“I always had a respect for him,” Hart said. “Now it’s tainted. I’m embarrassed that I thought so highly of him.”
“I think, despite all of the issues I ever had with Vince, I know, deep down, I always respected him; but now, knowing what kind of a weirdo he became, I have absolutely zero respect for him. I do not think I could ever shake his hand if he extended it. Too creepy.”