Vince McMahon and WWE are accused in a lawsuit of allowing “rampant” sexual abuse of boys

Vince McMahon and the WWE have been accused in a new lawsuit of knowing about and allowing ring announcer Melvin Phillips Jr.'s “rampant and open” sexual abuse of boys.

Phillips, who worked for the wrestling organization in the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s, died in 2012.

The suit you saw The Independentwas filed in Baltimore County on behalf of five anonymous alleged victims identified only as John Does. The defendants include McMahon, the WWE and its parent company TKO Holdings.

According to the lawsuit, Phillips used his position to hire boys as young as 12 or 13 to help the ring crew prepare for WWE shows. However, the lawsuit states, “Phillips' real motivation for luring the Ring Boys with the promise of access to WWE's popular events was to sexually abuse them.”

The lawsuit further alleges that McMahon knew about Phillips' actions and quotes him as saying in the 1980s that the speaker had a “peculiar and unnatural interest” in young boys.

The lawsuit also alleges that the defendants provided Phillips with a private dressing room at some venues “where he used his own expensive video camera (extremely rare at the time) to film his sexual escapades with the children.”

This is what Vince McMahon's lawyer, Jessica Rosenberg, said The Independent in a statement: “More than 30 years ago, columnist Phil Mushnick tried to make headlines with the same false claims. These claims were never proven and eventually became the subject of a defamation lawsuit against Mr. Mushnick.

“The negligence claims brought against Mr. McMahon today are based on the same absurd, defamatory and completely unsubstantiated statements made by Mr. Mushnick. We will vigorously defend Mr. McMahon and are confident the court will find these allegations to be untrue and without merit.”

In a separate statement on this The IndependentGreg Gutzler, a partner at law firm DiCello Levitt, which is leading the litigation, said: “Thanks to the bravery of our clients, we finally have the chance to hold accountable those who allowed and enabled the blatant, rampant sexual abuse of these clients.” little boys.

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“The fact that so many knew about the Ring Boys’ sexual abuse and did nothing to prevent or stop it is simply irresponsible.”

Mark DiCello, founding partner of DiCello Levitt, added: “The WWE and the McMahons had a responsibility to these underage boys and they failed them in the worst possible way. We will fight vigorously to uncover the truth about this systemic, insidious and life-altering abuse.

“We commend our clients for their courage in coming forward and promise to fight tirelessly for justice for them.”

Last month, McMahon was the subject of the Netflix docuseries Mr. McMahon This included several other allegations of misconduct, including allegations of sexual assault and human trafficking involving former employee Janel Grant. McMahon has claimed he was “misrepresented” on the show.