As reported yesterday, Vince and Linda McMahon, WWE and TKO, are now facing a new investigation after the law firm of DiCello Levitt and Murphy, Falcon & Murphy filed a civil suit on behalf of five John Does, who accused the former CEO, his wife, and companies, for allowing former WWE ring announcer Mel Phillips to sexually abuse them when they were underage on multiple occasions in the 80s and 90s. These children, called “Ring Boys”, were allegedly brought in to help with shows. With the rise of movements like “Speaking Out” bringing such cases to the fore, attorney Greg Gutzler believes this landscape allowed his clients to find their voice in a time when support is widely available. Gutzler spoke with “Pollock and Thurston” about how this lawsuit started and why it’s hard for victims to come forward after incidents like this happen.
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“We have been looking into this for several months. We were contacted by several ring boys who I believe felt empowered by a shift in culture in our country as well as, most importantly, the recent revelations about Vince and the culture of corruption at WWE,” stated Gutzler. “We detail this in our complaint, where we talk about the numerous allegations against Vince, the hush payments that were made, how it was investigated, in terms of TKO and WWE, and what was going on in the company.
“If you look at sexual abuse, you’ll see that most sexual abuse goes completely unreported. And then, if you look at the small percentage of sexual abuse that is reported, you often have year after year of it, they call ‘delayed’ exposure,’ and it’s because of the cultural barriers, the fear, the shame and the intimidation of companies like WWE.”
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Greg Gutzler talks about how he works with the survivors of this case
Beyond the point of why it might take sexual assault survivors time to come forward, Gutzler mentioned that in the state of Maryland, where the case has been filed, the state removed the statute of limitations from these cases, called The Child Victims Act, because the state “recognizes the science and psychology that goes into trauma victims have delayed disclosure.” That said, Gutzler stated that they are being contacted by several people about this particular case. To clarify, Gutzler made it clear that the five John Does that emerged in this lawsuit were “not consistent with each other,” meaning the investigations were separate. However, Gutzler brought them into one case as he did not want any of the victims to feel harassed or threatened in any way by the defendants or any attempts to silence their allegations.
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“Yes, there is strength in numbers in terms of being able to withstand what you know is going to be the inevitable … just attacking them in every way using the machinery,” Gutzler added. “You know it’s happened in the past how WWE has treated survivors of any kind of abuse, not just sexual, but it can be employment issues. There’s been a lot of cases here.”
Gutzler also credited Janel Grant with being the “lightning rod” for allowing these five John Does to come forward with their accounts of sexual abuse. Grant’s attorney, Ann Callis, recently released a statement on Grant’s behalf, saying that she “stands with all WWE survivors and believes that Mr. McMahon, WWE and all parties involved must be held accountable.”
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If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit “Pollock and Thurston” with ah/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.