Vince McMahon’s attorney Jessica Rosenberg reacted to the
lawsuit filed yesterday against Vince and Linda McMahon
along with WWE concerning the former WWE “Ring Boys.”

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of five former ring boys,
alleges negligence for allowing “systemic and pervasive
abuse” of underage children.

“More than 30 years ago, the columnist Phil Mushnick tried
to make headlines with these same false claims,” Rosenberg
said in a statement issued later in the evening. “Those
allegations were never proven and ultimately became the
subject of a defamation lawsuit against Mr. Mushnick.”

She continued, “The negligence claims against Mr. McMahon
that were asserted today rely on these same absurd,
defamatory and utterly meritless statements by Mr. Mushnick.
We will vigorously defend Mr. McMahon and are confident the
court will find that these claims are untrue and unfounded.”

The lawsuit, which was filed by DiCello Levitt and Murphy,
Falcon & Murphy, says that the McMahons knew about and did
not stop decades of sexual assault, spearheaded by former
WWE ring announcer and ring crew boss Melvin Phillips Jr.
Phillips, who died in 2012, is said to have hired underage
boys, sometimes as young as 12, to assist in setting up the
ring, then groomed and abused them.

Terry Garvin and Pat Patterson were also involved in the
allegations at the time and were both fired, along with
Phillips. The story became public in 1992.