Konstantine Kyros has commented on the most recent allegations facing Vince McMahon.
On the 16th of May, 2019, former WWE Superstar Ashley Massaro tragically passed away by suicide. Following her passing, an affidavit was made public, where she alleged WWE covered up that she was sexually assaulted while on a military base in 2007.
At the time, WWE released the following statement addressing the allegations:
“At no time was Vince McMahon or the management of WWE ever informed by Ashley Massaro or anybody else that she had been sexually assaulted, drugged, raped or sodomized by a military doctor with a nurse standing guard while on a goodwill tour in 2007 to U.S. military bases in Kuwait. In fact, if she ever articulated such a claim to WWE, we would have reported it immediately to the Base Commander.
-WWE
At no time was there ever a meeting with Vince McMahon, Kevin Dunn, John Laurinaitis or other company executives in which she told them of such a claim and was instructed to keep it quiet.”
On January 25th, former WWE employee Janel Grant filed a lawsuit against Vince McMahon, WWE, and former Head of Talent Relations John Laurinaitis, accusing McMahon of sex trafficking and sexual assault in graphic detail.
Konstantine Kyros, who represented Ashley Massaro and other former wrestlers in a concussion lawsuit against WWE, recently appeared on NewsNation to discuss Massaro’s claims in relation to the latest allegations made by Janel Grant.
“We were arguing that it was a totally unregulated workplace and she had put that into a submission that was required by a federal judge in Connecticut. It was an affidavit sworn under the penalties of perjury given to a federal judge,”
-Konstantine Kyros
Kyros then stated that the military didn’t launch an investigation into Massaro’s claims at the time as, in his words, “effectively, the issue was covered up.”
Regarding Janel Grant’s allegations, Kyros noted that these latest revelations don’t come as a surprise due to the toxic culture within WWE.
“This doesn’t come as any surprise to the followers of Vince or the WWE. The culture was toxic. The sexual exploitation was just part of the overall control. The wrestlers function in an in-group subculture where they’re governed by a code of silence called kayfabe. This basically prevents people from speaking out because they’ll lose their jobs and livelihoods. My understanding, from Ashley, and I think this is well-known to anybody with remote familiarity of the ins and outs of WWE. I believe the allegations were Mr. McMahon himself was commonly seen kissing the Divas in the rooms and so forth. When she rejected his advances, she met the fate of many other wrestlers, which was that her career was going to come to an end, and that’s essentially what happened. In addition to these horrific allegations that she made, it’s important for viewers to understand that the wrestlers have been exploited and injured for decades by McMahon. She had very common orthopedic injuries, she had very serious injuries to her neck, where she had herniated discs. This type of lack of any engagement with their healthcare, the health crisis that wrestlers are in when they suffer these horrendous injuries, and then they end up, unfortunately, in some cases, taking their own lives because they have, in many cases, undiagnosed (injuries).”
-Konstantine Kyros
Those looking to read Janel Grant’s lawsuit can do so here, although this comes with a trigger warning, as some readers may find its contents distressing.
As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on the allegations facing Vince McMahon as soon as we hear more.
H/T to Fightful for the transcription.
