The only people who fear the truth are those with something to hide.
That might seem obvious. But it’s worth remembering as the attorney for the woman who said she was sex trafficked and abused by Vince McMahon asks World Wrestling Entertainment to release current and former employees from non-disclosure agreements.
If WWE and parent company Endeavor Group Holdings are as committed to rooting out a toxic, misogynistic culture as they claim, they should have no objection to waiving the NDAs. They should want all the misdeeds and indignities committed by McMahon and his minions laid bare so there can be no confusion about what the company stands for, and what it will and won’t tolerate going forward.
If they don’t, the very obvious question is why not.
“If they have nothing to hide, then they should prove it,” Ann E. Callis, the attorney for Janel Grant, who detailed years of exploitation and degradation in a January lawsuit against McMahon, told USA TODAY Sports.
NDAs are designed to allow companies to protect private information. Trade secrets. Business practices. Financial information. Customer lists. It’s reasonable to see why a company wouldn’t want those matters made public and why employees would be asked to promise that they won’t.
But the NDAs that Callis is referring to, the NDAs that WWE seems to have made liberal use of under McMahon’s leadership, serve only to harm.
Often tied to financial settlements, these NDAs are meant to silence people, both those who were subjected to abuse and those who were witness to it. That is problematic enough, cloaking those who’ve been wronged in shrouds of secrecy and shame. Worse, though, is that these NDAs allow the people causing the harm, and those who’ve enabled them, to duck responsibility.
If no one knows the boss is a sexual predator because those who do are legally barred from saying anything, he can continue to prey on other employees. If no one is allowed to speak about a hostile workplace environment, there will be no incentive to change it.
“The toxic and sexualized culture at WWE during Mr. McMahon’s tenure as CEO and Chairman was open and notorious. Yet what has been publicly reported is only part of the picture,” Callis wrote in a letter sent Monday to attorneys and leadership for WWE and Endeavor.
“We have had witnesses come to us confidentially and describe a sexualized culture at WWE that victimizes women and men. We have received reports that many victims are currently afraid to come forward because of punitive non-disclosure and non-disparagement agreements,” Callis continued. “… Survivors are revictimized every time they are muzzled and forced to live in fear of attack from a multi-billion-dollar business that can hire an army of lawyers to bury them in legal fees if they speak the truth.”
Companies might say these NDAs protect people who’ve been abused, that they keep the world from knowing embarrassing details about their lives and shield them from criticism. But that’s a convenient excuse. They’re a way for companies to sweep their dirty little secrets under the rug so no one else will know.
Daniel Snyder used them when he owned the Washington Commanders to quash details about the abusive behavior that he was both condoning and committing. USA Gymnastics forced McKayla Maroney to sign one after she acknowledged being sexually abused by former team physician Larry Nassar.
Serial predators Harvey Weinstein, Bill Cosby and Bill O’Reilly used NDAs so often they prompted the rarest of all things: bipartisan agreement in Congress. The Speak Out Act, which became law in December 2022, prohibits the enforcement of NDAs and non-disparagement clauses related to sexual assault or sexual harassment.
When Snyder, Cosby and Weinstein are the company you’re in, it’s a sign — a flashing neon one — that you might want to rethink your actions.
If you really do want to change your company’s culture and ensure it’s no longer a breeding ground for abuse, that is.
Grant’s NDA with WWE might be unenforceable because her lawsuit wasn’t filed until January, more than a year after Speak Out became law. But there are an untold number of other WWE employees whose NDAs pre-date Speak Out, and they need to be heard, too.
No doubt it will be embarrassing for WWE for more tawdry stories to pour out. Until there’s a full accounting of all the wrongs McMahon did and all the people he harmed, however, there’s always going to be something else out there, another secret certain to cause damage when it’s finally spilled.
Honesty isn’t simply the best way forward for WWE. It’s the only way.
Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour.
