Former wrestling announcer Melvin Phillips, Jr., the lawsuit says, never stopped abusing children—yet was never subjected to further discipline by Linda and Vince McMahon, who allegedly knew, or should have known, that Phillips was continuing to prey on young boys.
Linda McMahon, the incoming Trump administration’s top choice for education secretary, is continuing to defend herself from claims that she failed to stop a ringside World Wrestling Entertainment announcer from grooming and abusing children throughout the 1980s and 1990s.
According to The New York Times, both McMahon and her ex-husband, Vince McMahon, ran the W.W.E. from the 1980s onward. Linda McMahon served as the organization’s president and chief executive officer until 2009.
Although both McMahons were intimately involved in the W.W.E. and its routine operations, they never managed to curtail rumors of behind-the-scenes abuse.
Earlier this year, in October, attorneys for several former “ring-boys” said in a lawsuit that the rumors were underlain by truth—and that at least five underage children were groomed and abused by announcer and ring crew chief Melvin Phillips, Jr.
The lawsuit names a number of defendants, including:
- Vince McMahon
- Linda McMahon
- W.E. (formerly World Wrestling Entertainment)
- TKO Holdings, the parent company of W.W.E.
Attorneys say that each of these defendants, along with others, committed criminal negligence by allowing Phillips to remain with W.W.E. despite having direct knowledge of Phillips’ purportedly “unusual” “interest” in young boys.
“It was common knowledge in the WWE — among the ring crew, wrestlers, and executives — that Phillips surrounded himself with a posse of underaged Ring Boys, including when he traveled across state lines and stayed in hotel rooms with the children,” the lawsuit claims.
“Phillips lured and manipulated the young boys with promises of meeting famous wrestlers and attending the highly popular wrestling shows, experiences that were otherwise unattainable for these kids,” the lawsuit alleges. “[Plaintiffs] allowed Phillips and others to engage in, and foster, the WWE’s rampant culture of sexual abuse.”
The McMahons fired Phillips in 1988 over abuse-related allegations, but “rehired him six weeks later on the condition that he ‘steer clear from kids.’”
Phillips, the lawsuit says, never stopped abusing children—yet was never subjected to further discipline by the McMahons, who allegedly knew, or should have known, that Phillips was continuing to prey on young boys.
The lawsuit does not accuse either Vince or Linda McMahon of committing child sex abuse.
“We finally have a chance to hold accountable those who allowed and enabled the open, rampant sexual abuse of these young boys,” said DiCello Levitt attorney Greg Gutzler. “That so many were aware of the sexual abuse of the ring boys and did nothing to prevent or stop it is simply unconscionable.”
Linda McMahon and her counsel have maintained that the lawsuit is predicated on lies and misrepresentations.
“This civil lawsuit based on 30-plus-year-old allegations is filled with scurrilous lies, exaggerations, and misrepresentations regrading Linda McMahon,” lawyer Laura Brevetti said.
Brevetti also told CNN, and other media outlets, that Linda and Vince McMahon “are separated” and have been “apart for some time.”
Sources
Lawsuit alleges Linda McMahon enabled sexual abuse of children
Linda McMahon, Trump’s Education pick, was sued for allegedly enabling sexual abuse of children
Trump’s Education Secretary Pick Named in Sexual Abuse Lawsuit
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