In the latest update in Janel’s Grant filed a lawsuit against Vince McMahon, John Laurinaitis, and WWE, Grant’s representatives requested for the nondisclosure agreements to be waived in the suit.
Grant filed the lawsuit in January, and she accused Vince McMahon of sexual assault and trafficking. McMahon denied the allegations and resigned from WWE and TKO. He remains under federal investigation.
The case was highlighted in a new interview with Kendra Barkoff Lamy, a spokesperson for Grant. John Pollock and Brandon Thurston of POST Wrestling and Wrestlenomics interviewed Lamy and asked whether they had heard from former WWE employees about the matter. (H/t Jeremy Lambert of Fightful for the transcription)
“I know that Janel’s legal team has heard from former employees about their experience within WWE,” Lamy said. “They themselves, even most recently, up until a couple of days ago, have heard from former employees about this toxic work environment that existed within WWE, and could potentially….we don’t know what’s going on now, which is part of the reason why we are asking for them to open up their doors, allow these women and potentially men, to speak freely and waive these NDAs if they have nothing to hide.
“If they claim they’ve turned the page on this abuse and toxic workplace, then let these people speak about their experience so they can move on.”
Kendra Barkoff Lamy On WWE’s Workplace
During the interview, Lamy said that agreeing to waive the NDAs was the first step in what WWE needed to do to improve the workplace. May noted that they needed to know the depth of the problem.
“This is the first step in what they need to do. We all saw the Vince McMahon documentary,” Lamy said. “He obviously was a big problem within WWE. A lot of the same people who were around when Ms. Grant experienced what she experienced are still there and are still working at that organization. Until we truly know the depth of the problem, we won’t be able to understand how as a culture we can move forward.”
Lamy: If WWE Wants To Clean Up The Mess, Let Them Speak
Circling back to the NDAs, Lamy said that in order to clean up “this mess”, WWE should let the women speak. Lamy stated that the lawsuit is in a holding pattern right now, and that was partially why Grant wanted to send the letter.
“If they want to clean up this mess, they should allow these women to speak freely and allow former employees to speak freely. Everybody has read the lawsuit and complaint. It is very detailed in the allegations. There is a reason why she is going after the organization as a whole. It is because as a company you are responsible for protecting your employees. At the current time, the lawsuit is in a stay. The federal government asked her to hang tight as they do their investigation into Vince McMahon. There is nothing happening on her current lawsuit. She’s in a little bit of a holding pattern of waiting.
“In the meantime, that’s part of the reason why and why it’s even more important and why she wanted to send this letter, to show that the sunlight is the best disinfectant. Let’s get in there. You guys say this was all Mr. McMahon’s doing and there was no one else in the organization that participated, then great, put it back on him and show it was him and there are no other issues. We can’t know that until they become transparent and allow these people to speak.”
