Vince McMahon Accused Of Sexually Preying On WWE Stars In Unreleased Statement
More accusations against Vince McMahon have come to light in a previously unreleased statement.
In a statement given before her death in 2019, former WWE star Ashley Massaro claimed female talents were punished for rejecting Vince McMahon’s sexual advances.
The report from VICE stated that McMahon “sexually preyed” on female stars and if rejected, gave them bad scripts in an effort to “destroy their reputations.”
The previously unreleased statement originally formed part of a sworn affidavit in which Massaro claimed WWE knew she had allegedly been sexually assaulted back in 2006 while on a tour of Kuwait with the company. However, the statement was removed by attorneys as it wasn’t relevant to the central claims of the lawsuit which concerned concussions.
In the statement, Massaro said she saw McMahon “making out” with female talents in the locker room, but he initially didn’t pay her any attention. However, this changed after her shoot with Playboy, and McMahon tried to get Massaro alone with him, something that made her “extraordinarily uncomfortable.”
After Massaro rebuffed him on the advice of Kevin Dunn, she claimed McMahon wrote her a terrible script for TV the next day in a form of punishment. The statement alleges that McMahon was “known for this type of behaviour” and had done it to another former WWE Diva. The performer’s name has been redacted by VICE in order to protect her privacy.
You can find the full statement below.
During my time with the WWE, I had observed Vince McMahon making-out with other divas in the locker room, but he never paid attention to me, and I assumed I was not his type. This changed after my Playboy cover was released. I was fortunate enough to be allowed to fly on the company jet and stay at the same hotels as the executives for a period of time so that I could get home faster to spend more time with my daughter.
On one of these occasions, Vince was attempting to get me alone with him in his hotel room late at night and I felt extraordinarily uncomfortable. He began calling the hotel room phone and my cell phone nonstop. I called Kevin Dunn to explain the situation and he said I should tell Vince I was not feeling well and would see him on TV the next day, so I did.
Immediately after that night, Vince started writing my promos for me. Vince does not write promos for female wrestlers—that is the job of the creative department—and he certainly wouldn’t have, under any normal circumstances, written a promo for me. But he did, and the promos were written with the clear intention of ruining my career.
I brought the first script Vince wrote for me to the WWE employee in charge of Creative at the time, Michael Hayes, and he said, ‘you’re not saying this, who the [expletive] wrote this?’ and I told him that Vince did. He said, ‘Well kid, these are the breaks,’ meaning that Vince wanted to end my career and destroy my reputation on my way out.
He is known for this type of behavior and also did this to [REDACTED] upon her departure from WWE. In addition, after that night, each time I walk by him he would make vulgar sexual comments that were clearly designed to make me uncomfortable.
Vince McMahon Knew Of Alleged Sexual Assault
With regard to the alleged incident in Kuwait in which Ashley Massaro claimed she was raped by someone representing himself as a United States Army, she said she was told to keep the allegations quiet by WWE management. When Massaro’s story surfaced, WWE denied this.
However, a recent statement from John Laurinaitis’ lawyer has contradicted these denials. As reported by VICE News, Edward Brennan objected to suggestions that Laurinaitis had been involved in a cover-up but admitted that he was aware of the allegations made by Massaro.