{"id":2826,"date":"2024-01-27T11:36:27","date_gmt":"2024-01-27T10:36:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/?p=2826"},"modified":"2024-01-27T17:00:23","modified_gmt":"2024-01-27T16:00:23","slug":"wwe-founder-vince-mcmahon-resigns-from-tko-group-after-being-accused-of-sexual-assault-and-trafficking-in-new-lawsuit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wwe-founder-vince-mcmahon-resigns-from-tko-group-after-being-accused-of-sexual-assault-and-trafficking-in-new-lawsuit\/","title":{"rendered":"WWE founder Vince McMahon resigns from TKO Group after being accused of sexual assault and trafficking in new lawsuit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Vince McMahon, executive chairman of the board of TKO Group Holdings and founder of wrestling giant WWE, has resigned his positions at both companies, according to a WWE memo obtained by CNBC and confirmed by the company.<\/h4>\n

WWE Chairman Nick Khan informed employees Friday evening that Vince McMahon has resigned as CEO of TKO Holdings Group, the parent company of WWE and UFC.<\/h4>\n

\u201cI wanted to inform you that Vince McMahon has resigned as CEO of TKO,\u201d Khan said in an email to employees.<\/h4>\n

He added: \u201cHe will also no longer have a role in TKO Group Holdings or WWE. \u00bb<\/h4>\n

This news comes just one day after a lawsuit was filed by former WWE employee Janelle Grant in Connecticut.<\/h4>\n

McMahon, Lauranaitis, the former WWE head of talent relations, and WWE have been indicted on various charges, including sexual assault and human trafficking.<\/h4>\n

In a separate statement, McMahon confirmed his innocence in the lawsuit, but that did not stop him from resigning.<\/h4>\n

Declaration of innocence
\n\u201cI stand by my previous statement that Ms. Grant\u2019s trial is full of lies and platitudes that never happened,\u201d McMahon said.<\/h4>\n

He added: \u201cThis trial is a vindictive distortion of the truth. \u00bb \u201cI will vigorously defend myself against these false accusations and look forward to clearing my name.\u201d<\/h4>\n

He continued: \u201cHowever, out of respect for WWE fans, TKO, its board members, shareholders, partners, stakeholders and all employees and stars, I have decided to resign immediately. “<\/h4>\n

The end of McMahon’s TKO reign comes less than a year after Endeavor acquired WWE and merged it into a new company with the UFC.<\/h4>\n

Ari Emanuel, CEO of Endeavor, serves in the same role at TKO.<\/h4>\n

Ultimately, TKO did not fire McMahon or demand his resignation, although his resignation came quickly after the lawsuit was filed.<\/h4>\n

McMahon previously retired from WWE in 2022, following accusations of paying money, as part of an investigation into sexual misconduct within the professional wrestling organization.<\/h4>\n

McMahon resigned as Chairman of the Board of Directors of WWE, but returned 6 months later as the company’s largest shareholder and returned to work.<\/h4>\n

WWE ultimately ended up selling to Endeavor in a big deal.<\/h4>\n

But Emanuel said at the time that Vince was an invaluable member and there was no question of firing him.<\/h4>\n

\u201cI\u2019m the luckiest man in the world because I have Vince McMahon,\u201d Emanuel said last April.<\/h4>\n

He continued: \u201cHe\u2019s a man who sees all angles\u2026I have Dana White in the UFC and what we\u2019ve built. \u201cIt\u2019s irresistible.\u201d<\/h4>\n

In the end, the relationship only lasted 9 months given the recent accusations and lawsuits filed against McMahon.<\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vince McMahon, executive chairman of the board of TKO Group Holdings and founder of wrestling giant WWE, has resigned his positions at both companies, according to a WWE memo obtained by CNBC and confirmed by the company. WWE Chairman Nick Khan informed employees Friday evening that Vince McMahon has resigned as CEO of TKO Holdings […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2827,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2826","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uncategorized"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2826"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2826"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2826\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2828,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2826\/revisions\/2828"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}