Source: Ethan Miller / Getty
A former writer for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is suing the company, including embattled Chairman Vince McMahon and other executives, claiming that her refusal to go along with racist scripts led to her firing.
As Bloomberg Law reports, Brittany Abrahams filed the complaint in the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York on Monday (Apr. 24). Abrahams, a Black woman, says that she repeatedly complained about the usage of “offensively racist and stereotypical jargon” in scripts of Black wrestlers, including Apollo Crews and Bianca Belair.
Abrahams began writing for WWE’s flagship programs, Monday Night RAW and SmackDown! in 2020.
Among the racist scripts was one instructing Belair (the current RAW Women’s Champion) to say “Uh-Uh! Don’t make me take off my earrings and beat your a**!” Another instructed Crews (who has since moved to another WWE program, NXT) to speak with a stereotypical Nigerian accent.
Abrahams says that she was rebuffed in both cases.
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She also rebuffed other racist ideas, including having a Muslim wrestler say that he was behind the 9/11 attacks.
Ultimately, Abrahams says that she was fired in retaliation in April of 2022.
WWE claims that she was fired for stealing a branded chair at Wrestlemania 38. However, none of her White, male coworkers were ever fired for the practice.
Abrahams is now seeking reinstatement, damages, and an injunction restraining the company from engaging in such unlawful conduct.
The Reactions
Now, needless to say, WWE fans are up in arms about this latest lawsuit. Vince McMahon, who has been running WWE since the 1980s, is already facing a slew of legal trouble.
In mid-2022, McMahon stepped down from his duties as he was being investigated for sexual assault and distributing hush money.
However, thanks to his holding the majority of the voting power in the company, McMahon successfully formed a “corporate coup” to get himself reinstated to the board earlier this year.
Not surprisingly, this sneaky move triggered a load of shareholder lawsuits claiming that McMahon was trying to take more power away from the board. Several of those lawsuits have been dropped, but the litigation over the assault & hush money is ongoing.
Also, these “racist script” accusations are not shocking… especially if you watched wrestling in the 90s and early 2000s.
Check out some of the tweets below, and you’ll see exactly what we mean.
(NOTE: Some tweets contain explicit language.)
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