Janel Grant Says She Feels Forgiveness Towards Vince McMahon
Janel Grant speaks on her experience.
Brandon Thurston and John Pollock of POST Wrestling published a new interview with Janel Grant, who filed a lawsuit in January 2024 against Vince McMahon, WWE, and John Laurinaitis. The lawsuit accuses McMahon of sexual assault and sex trafficking. McMahon resigned from TKO/WWE following the lawsuit being filed. Laurinaitis has since been dropped from the lawsuit, which is currently in private arbitration.
In July 2022, a report was published by the Wall Street Journal accusing Vince McMahon of sexual misconduct and hush money.
When the story broke, Grant said her first instinct was to ask about Vince.
“I asked the attorney a question that I don’t know I ever got an answer [to]. I said, ‘Is he okay?’ Because I thought, if I instantly felt like I might want to not be here anymore, if this was something that maybe my light goes out in life, why wouldn’t he feel the same way, if something’s about to be outed. It’s actually, to be in my body and see the world through my eyes, it’s pretty easy. He’s the only person who can tell me if I’m going to be okay. And what’s going on, like, what just happened? How did this happen? He’s the only person who would know that. That’s how I felt,” she said.
Asked how she feels towards McMahon today, Grant said, “Forgiveness. I don’t know how else to describe it, other than there’s something that does not take up space in my brain. I feel even empathy, because in a weird way, and this is extreme polar opposites, the thing that might… the series of events that caused The Journal story to happen—whatever it was—it equally impacted him… There are so many people involved in [the] decision-making that I can’t sit still and process.”
“Instead. what occupies my brain is whatever series of events and decision-makers caused the anonymous emails to happen or The Wall Street Journal story to happen, and the events that have played out since, however they have played out. That is what occupies my brain.”
McMahon has largely stayed out of the spotlight since the lawsuit was filed, but has not commented on the lawsuit.
Earlier this month, Grant accepted the Advocacy in Action Award from the Connecticut Alliance to End Sexual Violence.
Fightful encourages its readers to read the entire article and interview on POST.
In July, WWE, Grant, and McMahon filed a voluntary dismissal of the lawsuit so that it could continue in private arbitration. The lawsuit has not been settled.
Victim Resources:
National Sexual Assault Hotline
Hours: Available 24 hours
1-800-656-4673
