Mainstream Media Outlets Working On Vince McMahon Allegation Stories
The latest development has arrived in the story surrounding the allegations pointed at Vince McMahon. As noted, the WWE board of directors are currently investigating claims about a series of hush money payments that the WWE chairman & CEO made to former female employees, paying out over $12 million in the last 16 years.
We previously noted how "Wall Street Journal" teased the release of another McMahon report in the coming weeks, but it's now been confirmed by "PWInsider" that they are indeed working on another potential story. The press have been reaching out to former female employees from over the years to try and discover more information on the subject.
Additionally, someone was also contacted for an interview with HBO's "Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel" as they start prepping a potential story on the claims about McMahon. They have also been contacting former WWE employees to ask questions about the situation.
Other media outlets like "Variety" have jumped on the story, running a piece this past week that focused on how the scandal may affect major media deals with FOX, NBC, and Hulu, as well as their plans to continue expanding relationships with Netflix and Disney. Since the news broke, Vince has since stepped down as CEO, with his daughter Stephanie taking over in the interim. Despite the investigation, McMahon still maintains control over the company's creative direction and has often appeared on live WWE programming since claims first started emerging.
The men responsible for the initial reports in the "Wall Street Journal", Joe Palazzolo and Ted Mann, recently appeared on "Busted Open Radio" and gave some insight into how the report first began.
"It was in April that WWE's board was investigating this $3 million agreement with the woman who worked for McMahon," Palazzolo said. "It basically took from April until we published our story to firm all that up, get additional sources, and understand what it was the board was doing."