Vince McMahon and WWE have landed in more legal hot water.
It has been reported by Bloomberg Law that McMahon and other executives are being sued by a former writer. It is alleged that McMahon and the company discriminated and retaliated against a Black female writer after she objected to “offensively racist and stereotypical jargon” used in segments for Black performers such as Bianca Belair and Apollo Crews.
Britney Abrahams claims that her numerous complaints were ignored and “she was pretextually terminated” for taking home a WrestleMania-branded chair.
Abrahams who began working on Raw and SmackDown in 2020, objected to racial and gender stereotypes in scripts. One script included Belair being instructed to say “Uh-Uh! Don’t make me take off my earrings and beat your ass!” while Crews was told to speak in a “stereotypical and exaggerated Nigerian accent.”
The former writer claims that she was subject to even more racist pitches after complaining. On a Slack thread including Vince and Stephanie McMahon, other writers suggested that a “Black male wrestler should dress in drag.” The pitch was only scrapped after a White writer complained that it would “perpetuate harmful stereotypes that would offend viewers.”
Another pitch would have seen a Muslim wrestler hold a secret, and when it was revealed, the secret would be that he was ” behind the 9/11 attacks.”
After Abrahams and other writers complained, Vice President Christine Lubrano allegedly said “Wacky things are said in the writer’s room all the time!” and “I know but look at the waves we’re making in the company. 4 years ago, no woman worked on the writer’s team!”
Abrahams says she continued to complain about such pitches before being fired in retaliation in 2022. WWE let Abrahams go for taking a WrestleMania 38-branded chair, something that is allegedly common practice among White writers, and goes unpunished.
“She is seeking reinstatement, damages, declaratory judgment, and an injunction restraining defendants from engaging in such unlawful conduct.”
Vince McMahon Retired In 2022 Following A Number Of Serious Allegations
Vince McMahon only returned to WWE in January 2023 after ‘retiring’ in July 2022 after becoming engulfed in a sexual misconduct scandal.
It was alleged that McMahon made a series of “hush money” payments to multiple women to suppress the claims. Among the allegations were claims that McMahon paid a former wrestler $7.5 million after she said that he had coerced her into giving him oral sex.
Meanwhile, a little over ten days after returning to WWE in January 2023, McMahon reached a settlement with former referee Rita Chatterton. The settlement was in relation to a 1986 incident where Chatterton alleged that she was raped by McMahon.