Vince McMahon, WWE sued by ex-writer over alleged racist storylines

Article content

Another day, another set of allegations for Vince McMahon.

This time, the WWE’s head honco is accused of racial discrimination by a former staff writer who alleges she was fired for biting back at racist storyline pitches for the company’s pro wrestling shows.

According to the New York Post, Britney Abrahams, an African-American who worked as a writer for WWE’s flagship Monday Night Raw and Smackdown shows, filed a lawsuit on Monday in Brooklyn court. She alleges that WWE turfed her last year in retaliation for complaining about potential storylines that made light on “offensively racist and stereotypical jargon.”

The ex-writer claims McMahon and head writer Ryan Callahan pitched an idea for current Muslim wrestler Mansoor to be “behind the 9/11 attacks.” In another pitch, she claimed Black wrestler Reggie (who currently wrestles in NXT as the masked Scrypts) would be caged while being hunted by Caucasian wrestler Shane Thorne.

Abrahams said she objected to the “racially motivated misconduct,” stating a storyline in which a “white man hunting a black African-American man for sport is racist.” The lawsuit noted when Abrahams voiced her displeasure to Callahan, he allegedly chuckled and replied: “Oh, what? Is that a bad thing?”

Current Raw women’s champion Bianca Belair, a Black wrestler, reportedly objected to scripts which wanted her to state on camera: “Uh-Uh! Don’t make me take off my earrings and beat your ass!”

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

Try refreshing your browser, or
tap here to see other videos from our team.

Play Video

Abrahams — who worked for WWE in 2020 — claimed Belair told writers on three separate occasions that she didn’t want to say the line because it perpetuated offensive racial stereotypes.

Another racist stereotype — which actually made it on television — saw Black star Apollo Crews speak with a “stereotypical and exaggerated Nigerian accent,” the lawsuit stated.

The ex-writer claims she was fired for taking home a WrestleMania 38-branded folding chair, despite other employees doing so as well. However, she believes she was really let go for her complaints.

McMahon has made plenty of headlines as of late.

Most recently, WWE was part of a $21.4-billion merger with UFC under a new company established by ownership company Endeavor. McMahon will serve as executive chairman in the new company.

McMahon also retired — and later returned — to WWE after allegations of sexual misconduct and hush money payments with several former female employees.