WWE backstage interviewer Kayla Braxton recently took to her Instagram account and posted an alluring picture in which she was drinking red wine. Her caption read:
“Don’t whine. Drink wine. Much better for the soul. Tomorrow we’re off to Corpus Christi for Smackdown! 🍷”
WWE is currently facing a lawsuit that calls the company out for racist practices and creative angles. Ex-WWE writer Britney Abrahams filed this huge lawsuit, and a lot of information is coming out about the company’s creative department right now. One storyline that was pitched would really upset a lot of people had it gone down, but now we know all about it.
This lawsuit also alleged that an idea was pitched for Shane Thorne to hunt down Reggie like an animal and put him in a cage. That idea never saw the light of day either, but it was detailed in the lawsuit.
The lawsuit went on to allege that a racist and sexist storyline was pitched for Aliyah and Mansoor. It was pitched that the two Superstars would fall in love, but Angel Garza would try to break them up. The details of how they planned on presenting this were less than politically correct.
“Additionally, HELLER shared a sexist pitch for a Muslim female wrestler wherein the said female wrestler lacked authority over her own mind and body.
Again, Ms. (Kyla) Sylvers and Plaintiff (Abrahams) created a love storyline between wrestlers, Aaliyah, Mansoor, and Angel Garza.
In this pitch, Aaliyah and Mansoor were meant to fall in love, while a jealous Angel tries to break them up. The pitch made Aaliyah appear intelligent and confident in herself and desires, containing Aaliyah speaking up for herself against both Angel and Mansoor, and having her love and affection earned.
Ms. Sylvers and Plaintiff pitched this storyline to HELLER, who expressed confusion about Aaliyah and her choices, particularly her never wanting to be with Angel, who is the obvious villain in the story. HELLER was also confused that Aaliyah wasn’t “crying on the stairs after her breakup with Mansoor.”
HELLER then counter-pitched that Plaintiff make the storyline a love triangle objectifying and bimbofying Aaliyah. HELLER’s sexist counter-pitch included Angel being forward and aggressive in his efforts to date Aaliyah, Aaliyah being easily swayed by Angel’s evil tactics, and Aaliyah being confused about which guy she should date, oscillating between the two men until the end of the storyline.
HELLER and (Ryan) CALLAHAN made these discriminatory comments while Plaintiff and other female black, African American employees were in his presence in the writer’s room. HELLER’s and CALLAHAN’s comments and conduct were clearly discriminatory.
Plaintiff immediately complained about these racially discriminatory comments.
Plaintiff spoke up and asked, “Doesn’t that take away Aaliyah’s agency?”
Plaintiff told HELLER that she wanted to make a pitch that was “more feminist, especially because Aaliyah’s character is already marketed as being ‘super-hot.’”
Plaintiff along with a number of her co-workers, including Ms. Sylvers and Mr. (Chad) Barbash also complained about the discriminatory nature of their lead writers’ comments.
Rather, in response to Plaintiff’s protected conduct, Defendants intensified their campaign of retaliatory adverse employment actions.”
