New lawsuit alleges child sexual abuse of WWE’s ‘folk kids’ in Maryland

BALTIMORE (AP) — A new lawsuit accuses WWE and its founders of fostering a culture of sexual harassment within the organization and turning a blind eye to a longtime ringside announcer preying on young men he recruited as “ring boys.”

The lawsuit was filed in Maryland on Wednesday. last law change It eliminated the state’s statute of limitations on child sexual abuse allegations, opening the door for victims to sue regardless of their age or how much time has passed.

The complaint alleges that Melvin Phillips, who died in 2012, targeted young men from disadvantaged backgrounds and recruited them as “populists” to help with preparations for wrestling matches. Phillips would then attack them in the locker room, at hotels and even in the wrestlers’ locker room, according to the complaint filed on behalf of the five men.

The misconduct detailed in the lawsuit occurred over several years during Phillips’ long tenure at the organization, which spanned from the 1970s to the early 1990s. Due to his death, Phillips is not among the named defendants.

Instead, the complaint targets World Wrestling Entertainment founders Vince and Linda McMahon, the husband-and-wife team who built the organization into the powerhouse it is today. The couple was aware of Phillips’ brazen abuse but did little to stop it, according to the complaint.

“This was not an isolated example,” said Greg Gutzler, an attorney representing five unnamed plaintiffs. “There was a culture of abuse, and it started at the top.”

The abuse occurred in multiple states, including Maryland, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Pennsylvania, according to the lawsuit filed in Baltimore County Circuit Court. The plaintiffs were all between the ages of 13 and 15 when they met Phillips.

Gutzler says plaintiffs finally have the strength to come forward and sue Vince McMahon Resigned from WWE’s parent company TKO Group Holdings was in the middle of its own sexual misconduct scandal earlier this year. She resigned in January after a woman previously worked for WWE. filed a federal lawsuit It accuses him of serious misconduct, including propositioning a star wrestler for sex and distributing pornographic images and videos of her. McMahon stepped down as CEO of WWE in 2022 amid an investigation into allegations that match those in the federal lawsuit.

Jessica Rosenberg, an attorney representing McMahon, denied the latest allegations of harassment contained in Wednesday’s complaint. In a written statement, he said the latest lawsuit made “the same false allegations,” citing New York Post reporting in the early ’90s.

“We will vigorously defend Mr. McMahon and are confident that the court will find these allegations to be false and unfounded,” the statement said.

Emails were sent to Linda McMahon and her organization seeking comment.

Attorneys for the other defendants are not yet listed in online court records. Emails seeking comment were sent to WWE and TKO Group Holdings.

McMahon was the leader and the most recognizable face in WWE for decades. When he bought what was then the World Wrestling Federation from his father in 1982, wrestling matches were held in small venues and broadcast on local cable channels. WWE matches are now held in professional sports stadiums and the organization has a large following abroad.

WWE merged last April with the company that operates the Ultimate Fighting Championship to form the $21.4 billion sports entertainment company TKO Group Holdings.

The lawsuit alleges that WWE leaders “gave Phillips free rein to use his public WWE persona and image to entice local kids,” allowing them to meet famous wrestlers and attend popular events.

The document alleges that the McMahons fired Phillips in 1988 because of harassment allegations that surfaced at the time, but rehired him six weeks later.

Linda McMahon, who left the company’s CEO in 2009, later Led the Small Business Administration under former President Donald Trump.

The lawsuit was filed under a Maryland law that took effect last year after state lawmakers voted to eliminate the statute of limitations for such lawsuits. Before the change, in Maryland, people who were sexually abused as children could file a lawsuit until they turned 38.

Lawmakers approved the change, considering the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church after a scathing investigative report revealed the scope of the problem in the Archdiocese of Baltimore. However, this opened the door to legal action against a number of other organisations, including government agencies. juvenile justice agency.

However, the future of these claims is uncertain because constitutionality of the law is currently being decided by the Maryland Supreme Court.