According to Bloomberg Law, a lawsuit has been filed against WWE, Vince McMahon, and other executives for allegedly discriminating against a Black female writer who objected to “offensively racist and stereotypical jargon” in scripts for “Black wrestlers including Bianca Belair and Apollo Crews.”
According to Bloomberg, “Britney Abrahams’ multiple complaints were ignored, and she was pretextually terminated for taking home a WrestleMania-branded chair, according to the complaint filed in the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York on Monday.”
Abrahams began working for both Raw and SmackDown in 2000. One of the allegations in the complaint was that Belair was told to say, “Uh-Uh! Don’t make me take off my earrings and beat your ass!” Crews was also told to speak with a “stereotypical and exaggerated Nigerian accent.”
After she complained about receiving “a number” of racist pitches, Abrahams said that “other writers suggested a Black male wrestler should dress in drag” on a Slack thread with Vince and daughter Stephanie McMahon included, but the pitch was scrapped when a White writer said that this could “perpetuate harmful stereotypes that would offend viewers.”
In another case, a writer proposed revealing a Muslim wrestler’s secret to be that he was “behind the 9/11 attacks.”
Abrahams claims she was fired for opposing “racist, sexist pitches,” and she seeks “reinstatement, damages, declaratory judgment, and an injunction restraining defendants from engaging in such unlawful conduct.”
WWE has yet to comment on the lawsuit. Stay tuned to PWMania.com for more.
