Two years ago, I nominated the former Chairman of the WWE for allegations that he paid $3 million in hush money to a terminated, down on her luck paralegal, Janel Grant, with whom he then had an affair. Now, however, the full nature of the paralegal's allegations has come to light, and their sheer depravity require that we re-nominate Vince to this year's list.
According to The New York Times, Vince hired Grant for sex, and then abused her for years. The abuse included:
- Vince taking nude photos of her and filming them having sex, and then using the photos and videos to intimidate her into silence after showing them to other employees.
- Vince pressuring her to have sex with other WWE executives.
- Vince locking her in a room while he and others took turns raping her.
- Vince leveraging her as a sexual commodity to entice wrestling talent to sign contracts with WWE.
- Vince coercing her to sign a $3 million nondisclosure agreement after his wife found out about their affair but stiffing her for the final $2 million in payments.
Grant claims that as a result she has suffered debilitating emotional distress and PTSD.
TKO Group, WWE's parent company, has stressed that it takes the "horrific allegations very seriously," and that it is addressing the matter internally."
Within 24 hours of Grant's allegations becoming public Vince McMahon resigned from TKO which he says was "out of respect" for TKO. He adds that Grant's lawsuit is "replete with lies, obscene made-up instances that never occurred, and is a vindictive distortion of the truth." Further, he intends to "vigorously defend" himself against these "baseless accusations."
Nevertheless, the sheer volume of these disgusting allegations more than merit a nomination to this year's Worst Employer list.