WWE and Vince McMahon are no strangers to lawsuits, but the one filed earlier this week in the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York is a bit more explosive than most.
The official complaint, which can be viewed in full here, was filed on behalf of Britney Abrahams, a black female who was employed as a temporary writer for SmackDown and Raw beginning in November 2020. During her time with WWE, Abrahams claims she was subject to “a sufficiently severe and pervasive work environment where she was subjected to abusive comments related to race and color” until her termination on April 7, 2022 — ostensibly for taking a WrestleMania 38 souvenir chair without permission.
Abrahams names lead writer Ryan Callahan and senior writer Chris Dunn, among others, as parties responsible for “a pattern and practice of
discrimination against black female employees, African American female employees” and others.
Among Abrahams’ claims:
- She raised objections to what she considered “offensive” dialogue written for Bianca Belair — who she says also had a problem with it — only to have Dunn put it back into the script.
- She flagged the idea for Apollo Crews to talk in a “racially artificial Nigerian accent” as offensive, but Callahan ignored it.
- Callahan came up with an idea for Shane Thorne to have a “hunting gimmick” that would see him hunt men instead of crocodiles, and particularly black wrestler Reggie.
- Abrahams and another writer were asked to pitch a love storyline between Aliyah, Mansoor, and Angel Garza; when the writers suggested Mansoor could be keeping a secret from Aliyah, Callahan allegedly offered, “how about his secret is he’s behind the 9/11 attacks?”
Along with ignoring her repeated attempts to draw attention to what she felt were racist and stereotypical treatment of black employees and talent, Abrahams claims WWE made it difficult for her to find work after she was terminated due to “discrimination and defamatory statements regarding her work performance.”
As summarized by Bloomberg Law, Abrahams is seeking “reinstatement, damages, declaratory judgment, and an injunction restraining defendants from engaging in such unlawful conduct.”
Vince McMahon personally has been the subject of a number of legal actions in the wake of his 2022 sexual harassment hush money scandal, the most recent of which were filed last December. He’s also been the target of multiple lawsuits from WWE shareholders displeased with his brute force return to the company board and subsequent resumption of his executive chairman role earlier this year.
While none of the various suits appears likely to derail a company that has been reporting record-setting revenue with seemingly each big event, it is another bad look for WWE at a critical time ahead of its high profile merger with UFC and an important round of media rights negotiations.