Janel Grant says she feels forgiveness toward Vince McMahon, more than two years after filing a lawsuit accusing the former WWE chairman of sexual assault and sex trafficking.
Grant gave the interview to POST Wrestling and Wrestlenomics, published Tuesday, in a conversation conducted by Brandon Thurston and John Pollock. Near the end of the conversation, Grant was asked what she feels toward McMahon now.
“Forgiveness,” she said, adding that she also feels empathy toward him. Grant explained that what occupies her mind these days isn’t McMahon himself, but the chain of events, including a set of anonymous emails sent to WWE’s board in the spring of 2022, that led to the scandal becoming public.
Grant filed her lawsuit against McMahon, WWE and John Laurinaitis in January 2024, alleging McMahon sexually abused her and orchestrated encounters involving Laurinaitis and other WWE figures. McMahon has denied the allegations in past statements, calling them false. Laurinaitis was later dropped as a defendant in the case.
McMahon resigned from WWE for a second time after Grant’s suit became public in January 2024. He had already stepped down once, in July 2022, after The Wall Street Journal first reported on a $3 million nondisclosure agreement between him and Grant.
Her instinct when the story broke
Grant also revisited the moment she learned in June 2022 that The Journal was preparing to publish its report. She said her first instinct, relayed through her attorney at the time, was to ask whether McMahon was okay.
Asked to explain that reaction given her allegations against him, Grant said McMahon was the only person who could tell her what was happening and whether she would be alright.
Case now in arbitration
Grant, McMahon and WWE agreed this past July to move the lawsuit out of public court and into private arbitration, ending more than two years of litigation playing out in the open. WWE has said in the past that it takes Grant’s allegations seriously and has no tolerance for physical abuse or unwanted contact.
Earlier this month, Grant accepted the Advocacy in Action Award from the Connecticut Alliance to End Sexual Violence, recognizing her push for legislation that would limit how nondisclosure agreements can be used to cover up workplace misconduct. The bill passed two legislative committees this year but did not come to a vote.
