Konstantine Kyros, Lawyer For Ashley Massaro, Comments On Allegations Against Vince McMahon, Toxic WWE Culture
TRIGGER WARNING
Konstantine Kyros is asked about the recent allegations against Vince McMahon and WWE.
Konstantine Kyros represented Ashley Massaro and other former wrestlers in a concussion lawsuit against WWE. Massaro tragically passed in 2019 by suicide. After 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 issued the following statement regarding Massaro’s 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.
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 25, a lawsuit was filed by Janel Grant against Vince McMahon, WWE and former executive John Laurinaitis. The lawsuit accuses McMahon of sex trafficking, emotional abuse, and sexual assault. The lawsuit includes disturbing details of how Janel was treated sexually, physically, mentally, and emotionally.
Konstantine Kyros appeared on NewsNation to discuss Massaro’s claims in relation to the new claims 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,” he said about his prior case.
Kyros stated the military didn’t launch an investigation at the time because “effectively, the issue was covered up.”
Regarding the allegations by Grant, Kyros said, “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).”
McMahon is now under federal investigation.
The lawsuit describes, in graphic detail, Grant’s account of her interactions with McMahon. Readers can view the lawsuit, which comes with a trigger warning, by clicking here.
McMahon has denied the allegations and said, through a spokesman, that he will vigorously defend himself.
Victim Resources:
National Sexual Assault Hotline
Hours: Available 24 hours
1-800-656-4673
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