A lawsuit accuses Linda McMahon who President-elect Donald Trump picked to lead the US Department of Education, of knowingly allowing sexual exploitation of children by a World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) employee as early as the 1980s. McMahon has vehemently denied these allegations
The former CEO of the WWE, Linda McMahon played a key role in transforming the organisation into a publicly traded media empire. She stepped down in 2009 to pursue a career in politics, running unsuccessfully for the US Senate in Connecticut in 2010 and 2012.
According to CNN, this recent lawsuit raises questions about her care for children’s safety at the WWE. It alleges that McMahon, her husband Vince, the WWE and TKO Group Holdings, the league’s parent company, knowingly allowed employee Melvin Phillips Jr. to use his position as ringside announcer to sexually exploit children.
Allegedly, Philips would recruit children to work as “Ring Boys,” who would help him set up and take down wrestling rings at the WWE events. However, the children who were hired were sexually exploited, including in front of the wrestlers and executives in the locker area. As per the suit, we would often film his sexual abuse.
This suit was filed on behalf of five John Does [plantiffs] in October in Baltimore County, Maryland. The five plaintiffs said that they were between the ages of 13 and 15 when Philips recruited them as “Ring Boys”. All of them say they suffered mental and emotional abuse as a result of the alleged abuse.
The lawsuit accuses the McMahons of negligence in their roles as employers, alleging that they failed to protect the plaintiffs from harm. The plaintiffs are seeking damages exceeding $30,000 as compensation for the alleged abuse.
The couple allegedly were aware of Philips’ abuse, this allegation was confirmed by Vince McMahon who said that the couple was aware as early as the early to mid-1980s that Phillips had a “peculiar and unnatural interest” in young boys, reported CNN.
Vince McMahon has faced allegations of sex trafficking and exploitation. In 2023, he paid off a multi-million dollar settlement to a former employee who accused him of rape. He stepped down this year as executive chairman of TK Holdings after the allegations of sexual assault and trafficking. He has denied the allegations.
Linda McMahon worked in Trump’s first Cabinet as the administrator of the Small Business Administration before stepping down in 2019. She is also a co-founder and the board chair of the America First Policy Institute, a pro-Trump think tank.
