Vince McMahon has addressed the alleged rape of a female WWE referee Rita Chatterton in the new Netflix documentary Mr McMahon.
Chatterton accused McMahon of raping her in 1986, after working at the company since 1984 as their first female referee.
She came out publicly about this in 1992.
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She alleged that the WWE co-founder and former chairman had sexually assaulted her, forcing her into performing oral sex on him.
Her accusations came following the expiry of the statute of limitations.
The statute of limitations is the amount of time a victim has to come forward in which legal charges can still be brought forward, and it varies from state to state in America.
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In this case, its expiration meant criminal charges could not be brought against McMahon.
McMahon has always denied the allegation from Chatterton, though a multi-million dollar settlement was made with her in early 2023.
McMahon’s lawyers said this was ‘to avoid the cost of litigation’ and reiterated his denial of the allegations.
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Whilst he has previously made statements via his lawyer, this is a rare comment from McMahon on accusations against him.
Discussing the allegations, McMahon said:
“When you’re accused of this and accused of that there is like this deluge of things, you’re this you’re that.
“One of the things was an alleged rape that never happened.”
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The Netflix documentary then played an interview clip of Chatterton in ’86 detailing that she was ‘forced into oral sex’ by McMahon.
She said: “When I couldn’t complete his desires he got really angry with me and and started ripping off my jeans.
“He pulled me on top of him and told me again if I wanted a half-a-million dollar a year contract I had to satisfy him and if I didn’t satisfy him I was blackballed.
“My wrist was all black and blue, he didn’t stop.”
McMahon went on to say: “Once you’re accused of rape, you’re a rapist. But, it was consensual and actually had it been a rape, the statute of limitations had run out so I mean it’s all kind of crap like that people are digging up and trying to find something on you”.
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Chatterton’s accusation re-emerged earlier this year as part of subpoena by federal agents investigating payoffs by McMahon that may have broken the law.
This came following a lawsuit by Janel Grant of Vince McMahon, WWE, and John Laurinitis, who worked as an executive at WWE.
Her lawsuit alleges the duo sexually assaulted her and engaged in sex trafficking.
Both have denied the allegations.
McMahon has been critical of the documentary Mr McMahon, which he took part in, calling it ‘deceptive’.
The mini-series released today, and chronicles his life and story, as well as addressing the various allegations and scandals McMahon has become embroiled in.
LADbible has reached out to MacMahon's representatives for comment.
Topics: Netflix, TV, TV and Film, WWE
Michael Slavin