Vince McMahon and WWE Sued By Former Writer For ‘Racist’ Scripts

Bloomberg Law reports that a former WWE writer is suing the company and Vince McMahon over what she feels were ‘racist’ scene scripts.

Britney Abrahams, herself a black writer, claims McMahon and other executives discriminate and retaliated against her after she spoke out against “offensively racist and stereotypical jargon.” The words were allegedly used in the scripts of black wrestlers like Bianca Belair and Apollo Crews. She said her complaints were ignored and she was later fired.

Abrahams wrote for the company starting in 2020. Her lawsuit mentions that some of the lines she objected to including one telling Belair to say “Uh-Uh! Don’t make me take off my earrings and beat your ass!” She also lists Crews having to use a “stereotypical and exaggerated Nigerian accent.” She claims she was ignored in both instances.

She claimed that she had to witness several racist pitches after her complaints. In a Slack thread that included Vince and Stephanie McMahon, other writers said a black male wrestler should dress in drag. It was only when a white writer said that it could “perpetuate harmful stereotypes that would offend viewers,” the pitch was dropped. In another incident, a writer proposed that a Muslim wrestler’s secret would be that he was “behind the 9/11 attacks.” The full lawsuit notes that this was pitched for Mansoor.

Abrahams and others complained and Vice President Christine Lubrano allegedly said in response: “Wacky things are said in the writer’s room all the time! and “I know but look at the waves we’re making in the company. 4 years ago, no woman worked on the writer’s team!”

She continued to speak out against similar pitches and was fired in April 2022. The reason WWE gave was that she took home a Wrestlemania-branded chair. However, she claims it was in retaliation, as taking chairs is something white male writers aren’t punished for.

Abrahams is looking for “reinstatement, damages, declaratory judgment, and an injunction restraining defendants from engaging in such unlawful conduct.”