Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque makes public comments after WWE employee’s sex trafficking accusations against Vince McMahon
By Elisabeth Buchwald and Eva Rothenberg, CNN
New York (CNN) — Paul “Triple H” Levesque, the chief content officer at World Wrestling Entertainment, made his first public comments after Vince McMahon resigned Friday from the board of WWE’s parent company, TKO Group Holdings, in the wake of a former employee’s lawsuit accusing McMahon of sex trafficking, sexual assault and physical abuse.
At a news conference after WWE’s “Royal Rumble” event Saturday in St. Petersburg, Florida, Levesque, McMahon’s son-in-law, said he had not read the lawsuit and had no prior knowledge of it, adding he does not “want to get bogged down into that.”
Levesque said he’s doing “everything possible” to ensure employees aren’t taken advantage of and feel safe at work. He did not provide details about what measures WWE has taken.
TKO did not respond to CNN’s request for comment about Levesque’s statements at the news conference.
The horrifying allegations against McMahon were brought forward by Janel Grant, who worked at WWE’s headquarters. Grant alleged McMahon promised a job — and later promotions — at WWE in exchange for sex.
Grant’s lawsuit also includes allegations McMahon trafficked her to other men inside and outside the company, including John Laurinaitis, a former wrestler who worked in the company’s talent relations department. Laurinaitis is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit.
McMahon, 78, has denied the allegations and said he is prepared to defend himself in court.
McMahon retired from his role in July 2022 amid a WWE-appointed special committee investigation into his alleged misconduct while serving as chairman and CEO of the company. Laurinaitis left the company shortly thereafter.
McMahon returned as chair of TKO in early 2023. In September, WWE officially merged with a portion of Hollywood power broker Ari Emanuel’s Endeavor group, the parent company of UFC, to form TKO. The deal valued the newly combined company at over $21 billion, with WWE shareholders owning 49% of the combined company.
The winner of the men’s Royal Rumble, Cody Rhodes, said at the news conference the allegations cast “a dark cloud” over the company and he wasn’t sure what the next chapter would look like.
Levesque said it was “an amazing week” for WWE after previously citing a 10-year, $5 billion deal announced Tuesday with streaming service Netflix, which will become the exclusive home of the “WWE Raw” program starting in 2025.
Also on Tuesday, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson announced he would join the board of directors at TKO.
CNN’s Samantha Delouya, Elizabeth Wagmeister and Jordan Valinsky contributed to this report.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2024 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
