In Discrimination Suit Against Vince McMahon, Ex-WWE Writer Alleges Company Considered Muslim Character Backstory Based on 9/11

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An ex-WWE writer is suing the company and Executive Chairman Vince McMahon for allegedly discriminating and retaliating against her when she objected to racist writing for the WWE’s talent, Bloomberg Law reported.

In the lawsuit, Britney Abrahams accused the WWE of using “offensively racist and stereotypical jargon” in the scripts of multiple black wrestlers, including Bianca Belair and Apollo Crews. She also claimed that one writer suggested a Muslim wrestler’s backstory should include that he was “behind the 9/11 attacks.”

Abrahams, a black woman, joined the writer’s room in 2020. During her time as a writer, she objected to several lines in the scripts that she claimed perpetuated stereotypes. This included one instance where Belair was told to say, “Uh-uh! Don’t make me take off my earrings and beat your ass!” She also spoke out against Crews speaking with an “exaggerated Nigerian accent.”

In another instance, multiple writers were tossing around the idea of one of the company’s black wrestlers dressing in drag. That idea was only scrapped, Abrahams said, when a white writer warned that it could be viewed as offensive.

When the 9/11 backstory came up for the Muslim wrestler, Abrahams and a number of other writers complained. In response, Vice President Christine Lubrano allegedly said, “Wacky things are said in the writer’s room all the time.”

Eventually, Abrahams was fired in 2022 for taking a WrestleMania 38-branded chair back home as a keepsake. According to her, it’s a tradition that white male writers have never been punished for and she believes it was an act of retaliation.

The WWE has not commented on the lawsuit. In addition to all of this, McMahon is still dealing with the sexual misconduct lawsuit that forced him to retire in 2022 before coming back in January 2023.