Posted in: Sports, TV, WWE | Tagged: mcmahon, Raw, Smackdown, Vince McMahon, wrestling, wwe

Former Writer Sues WWE Over Alleged Retaliatory Firing, Racism

Former writer Britney Abrahams is suing WWE, claiming discrimination & retaliation for objecting to stereotypically racist creative plans.

WWE is being sued by former writer Britney Abrahams, a Black woman who claims she suffered from discrimination and retaliation after voicing her objections to racist suggestions in WWE scripts and writers' room Slack chats. Bloomberg Law broke the news and posted the lawsuit court documents online, in which Abrahams seeks reinstatement and compensation for her claims. The lawsuit also names WWE executives, including Vince McMahon. It's not even the worst thing McMahon has been sued for recently, as the WWE Executive Chairman only recently returned to power at the company after being forced to resign last year in the wake of news he made millions of dollars in hush money payments to women, including WWE employees, over sexual misconduct allegations. Just a couple of months ago, McMahon reportedly paid a multi-million dollar settlement to Rita Chatterton, the company's first female referee, who alleged that McMahon sexually assaulted her in the 1980s.

According to the lawsuit, Abrahams was hired to write for both WWE SmackDown! and WWE Monday Night Raw in 2020 but soon found herself facing what the lawsuit describes as "offensively racist and stereotypical jargon" in relation to the creative plans for Black wrestlers such as Bianca Belair, Apollo Crews, and Reggie. Abrahams claims that she spoke out against these problematic portrayals but was met with dismissal and, ultimately, retaliation for her efforts both from the company and from lead writer Ryan Callahan. The lawsuit also names writer Chris Dunn, Stephanie McMahon, and others.

The examples given in the Bloomberg piece are distressing but probably not too surprising to anyone who has watched WWE programming over the last few decades. In one instance, Abrahams reportedly objected to a script that instructed Belair to say, "Uh-Uh! Don't make me take off my earrings and beat your ass!" The court document elaborates:

By way of example, within or around Plaintiff's first two (2) weeks of employment with WWE, she shadowed a male, white, Caucasian writer, Defendant DUNN, who wrote a backstage scene for Ms. Bianca Belair (hereinafter referred to as "Ms. Belair"), a black, African American female WWE wrestler.

Upon information and belief, Ms. Belair is one of two (2) dark-skinned black, African American female wrestlers. The said scene included offensively racist and stereotypical jargon which Plaintiff found objectionable. By way of example, according to the script, DUNN intended Ms. Belair, the said black female WWE wrestler, to say, "Uh-Uh! Don't make me take off my earrings and beat your ass!" which are lines based upon cruel, ugly stereotypes of dark-skinned, black women. Plaintiff asserts that Ms. Belair uttering that line was, and still is, negatively stereotypical of race and gender, and Plaintiff found it offensive, and still finds it offensive.

Prior to the writing of this scene, many of the WWE writers commonly complained that they didn't know what to do with Ms. Belair. As a result, Plaintiff undertook researching Ms. Belair's background and discovered a fascinating family tree, including an aunt who helped desegregate her high school in the 1960s and an uncle whose contributions to science were world-renowned. DUNN allowed Plaintiff to write a first draft of Ms. Belair's scene, so Plaintiff included positive references to Ms. Belair's rich family history and sent it to DUNN for feedback.

DUNN told Plaintiff that the draft "looks great. I'm going to make some edits and submit it to [CALLAHAN]." However, DUNN subjected Plaintiff's draft to substantial editing, including inserting the said racial and gender stereotypes. That same night, Plaintiff complained about the racially offensive and discriminatory nature of the scene to one of her WWE superiors, Defendant CALLAHAN.

Plaintiff emailed CALLAHAN and said, "I know I'm new, I'm not trying to be disrespectful or step on [DUNN]'s or anyone's toes, but I would be remiss if I didn't mention that [Ms. Belair]'s scene includes racial jargon and offensive stereotypes, particularly her go-home line." Plaintiff also requested clarification for protocol on moving forward with her complaint.

In conversation with Ms. Belair the following day, Ms. Belair informed Plaintiff that she told DUNN "3 DIFFERENT TIMES THAT I DON'T WANT TO SAY THAT LINE! BUT HE NEVER LISTENS TO ME! HE PUTS THAT LINE IN EVERY WEEK." Ms. Belair said the script's discriminatory line(s) made her look "ghetto." Plaintiff relayed this information to DUNN and politely offered to edit the line(s).

However, despite Plaintiff's complaint, Defendants failed and/or refused to take any immediate or appropriate corrective action in response.

Plaintiff never received any form of response from CALLAHAN, verbally nor via email, and CALLAHAN never spoke to Plaintiff about her email or the line(s), or the scene. Additionally, WWE's failure and/or refusal to address Plaintiff's complaint emboldened WWE employees, including DUNN and CALLAHAN, to further discriminate against and to retaliate against Plaintiff in response to her protected conduct.

By way of example, WWE kept the discriminatory line in the script. Plaintiff was scheduled to shadow DUNN on two (2) scenes that day, one of which was the said scene with Ms. Belair. However, around halfway through the day, DUNN informed Plaintiff that she would now shadow CALLAHAN. When Plaintiff requested DUNN's assistance, he told Plaintiff "YOU HANDLE IT. IT'S YOUR SCENE NOW."

CALLAHAN showed up for the taping of Plaintiff's scenes about 90 seconds before they went live, and he never once mentioned Plaintiff's email. Defendants switched Plaintiff's assignment and made her shadow WWE's lead writer, who was not present until the show filmed live. The switch in assignment was due to Plaintiff's race and gender and had the purpose and effect of sabotaging Plaintiff's career with the WWE, and to serve as a pretext for retaliatory adverse actions.

The report further states that Abrahams bore witness to similarly racist suggestions in the WWE Slack channels, including a pitch for a Black male wrestler, Reggie, to dress in drag – a proposal that was only abandoned after a white writer pointed out the perpetuation of harmful stereotypes. In another script, Apollo Crews was allegedly told to adopt a "stereotypical and exaggerated Nigerian accent." But in perhaps the most egregious example, according to the filing, creative pitched a plan for white Australian wrestler Shane Thorne to literally hunt Reggie, even keeping him in a cage when captured.

By way of example, it was discussed in the WWE writer's Slack channel before a show that a new wrestler, Reggie, would dress in drag complete with wig and tights, "so he could partner with Carmella, a female wrestler, in a tag-team match against other female wrestlers." Reggie is a dark-skinned, African American, black straight male wrestler. Given this pitch was shared via the Slack app, Defendants MR. MCMAHON and MS. MACHON, as well as other WWE higher-ups, including Mr. Pritchard, and Mr. Ed Koskey were included on the thread.

Plaintiff's co-worker, Ms. Listenberger, responded to the thread, observing that putting a straight black man in drag might perpetuate harmful stereotypes that would offend viewers. WWE eventually scrapped the discriminatory pitch, but only in response to a white, Caucasian individual's protected conduct in the form of Ms. Listenberger's complaint.

By way of another example, WWE forced wrestler Apollo Crews to speak with a Nigerian accent, just because of his Nigerian lineage. Apollo Crews is a black, Nigerian-born male. Plaintiff emailed CALLAHAN and complained about the offensive nature of the requirement for Apollo Crews to speak with a stereotypical and exaggerated Nigerian accent. However, despite Plaintiff's complaint, CALLAHAN failed and/or refused to take corrective action. As a result, CALLAHAN and WWE forced Plaintiff to require Apollo Crews to speak with a racially artificial Nigerian accent.

By way of another example, WWE forced wrestler Apollo Crews to speak with a Nigerian accent, just because of his Nigerian lineage. Apollo Crews is a black, Nigerian-born male. Plaintiff emailed CALLAHAN and complained about the offensive nature of the requirement for Apollo Crews to speak with a stereotypical and exaggerated Nigerian accent. However, despite Plaintiff's complaint, CALLAHAN failed and/or refused to take corrective action. As a result, CALLAHAN and WWE forced Plaintiff to require Apollo Crews to speak with a racially artificial Nigerian accent.

By way of another example, in or around the spring of 2021, CALLAHAN pitched that a white Caucasian male wrestler with a "hunting" gimmick would hunt a black, male wrestler for fun. In a nutshell, the said hunting gimmick pitch for new wrestlers, Shane Thorne, and Reggie was, "since Shane is Australian, we should make him a crocodile hunter, and instead of crocodiles, he hunts people." Subsequently, a storyline was pitched by CALLAHAN where Shane would capture Reggie and constantly beat him up, but Reggie would always escape after being captured. Holding Reggie captive in cages was also discussed.

Plaintiff found CALLAHAN's pitch highly offensive and objectionable. Plaintiff again objected to her superior's racially motivated misconduct, specifically stating that a gimmick where a white man hunting a black African American man for sport is racist. CALLAHAN laughed and sarcastically responded, "OH, WHAT? IS THAT A BAD THING?" CALLAHAN's comments and conduct had the purpose and effect of humiliating and intimidating Plaintiff, and dramatically altered her work environment for the worse.

As the WWE writing team's sole person of color, Plaintiff was devastated that none of her white, Caucasian co-workers stepped in to complain about this discriminatory and offensive pitch. Afterwards, Plaintiff spoke with Mr. Parise, a white, Caucasian WWE writer, who revealed that he agreed with Plaintiff that the pitch was racist, but he felt too nervous to speak up about it in front of CALLAHAN. However, despite Plaintiff's complaint, Defendants refused to address the complaint and instead continued the discriminatory and retaliatory campaign unabated.

The resistance, it seems, was futile, as Abrahams claims her objections were consistently ignored.  In an even more shocking instance, a writer allegedly suggested that Muslim wrestler Mansoor's storyline secret be that he was "behind the 9/11 attacks."

By way of example, in or around late November 2021, racially discriminatory comments were casually made by Plaintiff's white, male Caucasian lead writer CALLAHAN about a Muslim wrestler. Ms. Sylvers and Plaintiff, the only black writers on the team at the time, were tasked to pitch a love storyline between wrestlers Aaliyah, Mansoor, and Angel Garza, who are both Muslim.

Ms. Sylvers and Plaintiff pitched that Mansoor has a secret that he's keeping from Aaliyah. CALLAHAN disagreed with the secret Ms. Sylvers and Plaintiff wanted for the character. Instead, CALLAHAN suggested, "how about his secret is he's behind the 9/11 attacks?" Ms. Sylvers nervously laughed and said, "let's not do that. Let's talk about the other part of the pitch."

CALLAHAN said, "Oh, I guess you're the lead writer now." Ms. Sylvers again laughed nervously, and said, "for just this moment so we can talk about something else." Following this, whenever a writer asked CALLAHAN a question, he would reply, "ask [Ms. Sylvers], she's the lead writer now." CALLAHAN's comments and conduct in this regard were clearly discriminatory given Plaintiff's similarly situated white, Caucasian counterparts were not treated in this manner.

The fact that at least some of these plans were stopped before making it to television actually represents a small step forward for WWE, considering some of the things that have made it through to the final script over the years (as seen throughout this post).

Abrahams' lawsuit seeks reinstatement, damages, declaratory judgment, and an injunction restraining the defendants from continuing this alleged discriminatory and retaliatory behavior. You can read the full court filing here.

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