WWE sued by former writer for alleged racial discrimination

[on_the_edge]

A former WWE writer has filed a lawsuit against the company, claiming racial discrimination and a hostile work environment.

Britney Abrahams, a Black woman, said she was fired by WWE last year in retaliation for pushing back against racism as well as racist and stereotypical pitches in the writers' room, according to court documents. The suit was filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

The complaint, written by Derek S. Sells of The Cochran Firm, lists the defendants as WWE itself, plus five backstage company employees and executives Vince McMahon and Stephanie McMahon. Stephanie McMahon no longer works for WWE, stepping down in January from her position as interim chairwoman and CEO.

In the suit, Abrahams alleges that during her WWE employment, several writers made racist pitches, one of which included the idea of a backstory for Saudi Arabian-born wrestler Mansoor having secretly orchestrated the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Also in the suit, Abrahams claims that a writer continually penned "racist and stereotypical jargon" for WWE Raw women's champion Bianca Belair, who is Black. She also alleges there was a push for Nigerian-born wrestler Apollo Crews to speak with an over-the-top Nigerian accent, and that there was an idea to rebrand a white wrestler as a hunter who hunted down and imprisoned other wrestlers, primarily one who was Black.

Abrahams alleges she and another Black writer were discriminated against because of their criticisms of those ideas and lines.

Abrahams claims she was fired by WWE in 2022 because she took home a commemorative chair from WrestleMania 38 in Dallas, even though that was an open practice among WWE employees and she witnessed white employees doing that very thing without punishment.

"In the years prior to Plaintiff making her complaint of discrimination, WWE did not subject employees to disciplinary action in response to taking the removable, temporary seating, limited-edition WrestleMania branded chairs, from the WrestleMania events," Sells wrote in the complaint.

WWE did not respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit.

Abrahams is asking the court for a "declaratory judgment" that the practices she claims violate New York laws, an injunction preventing the defendants from the alleged conduct and financial damages.

www.espn.com/wwe/story/_/id/36298553/wwe-sued-former-writer-alleged-racial-discrimination

[paul]

My goodness! If these allegations are true the WWE has some really messed up people on their writing staff; those are some pretty offensive storyline ideas.

As always though I'll wait for all of the information to come out before casting judgement.

[natureboi]

Is this the same person who was fired after declaring on some podcast or other that she was a comedy writer by trade and that she knew nothing at all about wrestling before being hired by WWE?

[Vegas]

for what it is worth, IMO the WWE should not even have writers as I think that job should be unnecsssary

A professional wrestler should be able to do their owm promo and not have to memorize lines. I understand the need for guidelines and points of emphasis to give them and even pre-approval for promos on network TV. But the writers job should not even exist in the first place.

[FCB72]

Apr 29, 2023 2:22:24 GMT -5 Vegas said:

for what it is worth, IMO the WWE should not even have writers as I think that job should be unnecsssary

A professional wrestler should be able to do their owm promo and not have to memorize lines. I understand the need for guidelines and points of emphasis to give them and even pre-approval for promos on network TV. But the writers job should not even exist in the first place.

I agree

[on_the_edge]

Apr 29, 2023 2:22:24 GMT -5 Vegas said:

for what it is worth, IMO the WWE should not even have writers as I think that job should be unnecsssary

A professional wrestler should be able to do their owm promo and not have to memorize lines. I understand the need for guidelines and points of emphasis to give them and even pre-approval for promos on network TV. But the writers job should not even exist in the first place.

In regard to promos, I agree. But it is a TV show and so you need writers. We have seen in the past what happens when you give wrestlers to much freedom over their characters and story lines.

As far as her allegations they do not seem surprising to me. Remember Jamaican Kofi Kingston? Or the terrorists that attacked Undertaker? I mean just the story line in general not the timing.

[Vegas]

Apr 29, 2023 14:34:41 GMT -5 on_the_edge said:

Apr 29, 2023 2:22:24 GMT -5 Vegas said:

for what it is worth, IMO the WWE should not even have writers as I think that job should be unnecsssary

A professional wrestler should be able to do their owm promo and not have to memorize lines. I understand the need for guidelines and points of emphasis to give them and even pre-approval for promos on network TV. But the writers job should not even exist in the first place.

In regard to promos, I agree. But it is a TV show and so you need writers. We have seen in the past what happens when you give wrestlers to much freedom over their characters and story lines.

As far as her allegations they do not seem surprising to me. Remember Jamaican Kofi Kingston? Or the terrorists that attacked Undertaker? I mean just the story line in general not the timing.

with network TV, I definitely agree that some level of oversight/pre-approval of what somebody says is needed, but the writers are not necessary for this and they generally suck

when have writers actually written badass lines anyway? "Hard Times," CM Punk's Piepbomb, etc were not written by writers

[on_the_edge]

Apr 29, 2023 15:09:20 GMT -5 Vegas said:

Apr 29, 2023 14:34:41 GMT -5 on_the_edge said:

In regard to promos, I agree. But it is a TV show and so you need writers. We have seen in the past what happens when you give wrestlers to much freedom over their characters and story lines.

As far as her allegations they do not seem surprising to me. Remember Jamaican Kofi Kingston? Or the terrorists that attacked Undertaker? I mean just the story line in general not the timing.

with network TV, I definitely agree that some level of oversight/pre-approval of what somebody says is needed, but the writers are not necessary for this and they generally suck

when have writers actually written badass lines anyway? "Hard Times," CM Punk's Piepbomb, etc were not written by writers

Is writing dialog all they do? I thought they also did story lines and come up with ideas for skits, characters and other things. If all they do is write dialog than yea, they are not really needed.

[Vegas]

Apr 29, 2023 15:45:32 GMT -5 on_the_edge said:

Apr 29, 2023 15:09:20 GMT -5 Vegas said:

with network TV, I definitely agree that some level of oversight/pre-approval of what somebody says is needed, but the writers are not necessary for this and they generally suck

when have writers actually written badass lines anyway? "Hard Times," CM Punk's Piepbomb, etc were not written by writers

Is writing dialog all they do? I thought they also did story lines and come up with ideas for skits, characters and other things. If all they do is write dialog than yea, they are not really needed.

they may do other things too, but as writers- their job description and thus apparently their main job- is not needed and they usually do a bad job at it

[jerkbronson]

Apr 29, 2023 1:52:40 GMT -5 natureboi said:

Is this the same person who was fired after declaring on some podcast or other that she was a comedy writer by trade and that she knew nothing at all about wrestling before being hired by WWE?

No, that was Kenice Mobley who was fired in 2021