Updated Friday, January 26, 2024 – 1:00 p.m.
This Friday, Spain woke up to sad news. Three women have claimed to have suffered sexual violence at the hands of filmmaker Carlos Vermut. According to an investigation, published by the newspaper El País, a film student, an employee of his productions and a worker in the cultural sector denounce that the director took advantage of his fame and recognition. to have violent and non-consensual sexual relations.
Of course, from the first hour, the news has generated a whirlwind on social networks. What’s more, Carlos Vermut has become a trend on Twitter. Like the name of another famous businessman in the entertainment industry, who – this January 26 – has also been accused of sexual exploitation. This is Vince McMahon, the CEO of WWE, the popular wrestling league, who is accused of assaulting a former employee.
According to international media, such as the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, a former worker – identified as Janel Grant – sued the founder of the league for hiring her in the well-known company in exchange for having sexual relations with her. In addition, The complainant claims that the businessman abused her “for years” with the promise of salary improvements and supposed promotions.
According to her story, McMahon hired her at the company in 2019, just when she was going through a difficult time: her parents had died and she was suffering financial problems. However, her new job did not encourage her. On the contrary, Grant began to live a nightmare. Upon entering the company, Janet started in an administration position, with a salary of close to $75,000 and without major problems. However, soon after, her boss began to extort her.
According to Janel Grant, McMahon “trapped” her in a complicated situation and she, fearing for her job and certain reprisals, She felt obligated to accept his advances, which soon became very serious requests. For example, the American would have asked her to send explicit images in which she appeared, in order to send them to other members of the organization.
Some time later, McMahon would have proposed to the plaintiff to sleep with some fighters. Among them, Brock Lesnar, a former American football player, whom WWE was looking to sign full-time. And what did the boss offer in exchange? Improve Grant’s salary and promote her within the company. Despite this, not everything the man offered was a transaction. Because the complaint also includes the word “rape.”
Janet Grant mentions that McMahon raped her on at least two occasions. One, with a “friend”, with whom she was forced to “have sex with feces in her hair”, and a second, with John Laurinaitis. A former wrestler nicknamed Johnny Ace. In her statements, the complainant says that she was sexually abused in a WWE conference room. and that at no time did he consent to the act. In fact, his abusers would have ignored his protests and would have indicated that for them his “no” meant a “yes.”
Later, McMahon’s wife would have discovered the relationship between the businessman and his employee. And, as a result of this, the powerful – through unorthodox methods – he would have made his victim sign a confidentiality agreement. In the same way, she would have offered to pay him three million dollars in exchange for his silence. But the director only gave him a percentage of that amount in 2023.
