Bret Hart denounces Vince McMahon after ‘sick and disgusting’ allegations

After Janel Grant’s lawsuit, Bret Hart has lost any respect that he once had for Vince McMahon.

Hart gave his first public comments on the situation in an interview with Slate that was published on Friday. Hart stated that he’s going to speak his truth and isn’t worried about McMahon’s feelings, because McMahon has never cared about Hart’s.

“I don’t have any problem with everybody kicking his head around the parking lot,” Hart said. “I’m OK with the truth coming out.”

Hart told Slate that he’s embarrassed he ever respected McMahon.

“I always had a respect for him,” Hart said. “Now it’s tainted. I’m embarrassed that I thought so highly of him.”

Grant, a former WWE employee, accuses McMahon of physical and emotional abuse, sexual assault, and sex trafficking in her lawsuit. McMahon, WWE, and John Laurinaitis are named as defendants.

In response to an allegation in the lawsuit where McMahon “allegedly defecated on Grant’s head and back while she was being raped by another man,” Hart called it sick and disgusting.

“When you get that vision in your head, you go, ‘That’s messed up,’” Hart said. “It’s too sick and disgusting to really imagine.”

Grant’s lawsuit includes graphic text messages allegedly sent by McMahon.

“They sound like Vince,” Hart said.

Hart told Slate that sexual abuse is something that he had heard whispered about during his time in the wrestling industry.

“I don’t think this is the only incident of this kind of predatory behavior,” Hart said. “I think you’ll find that it’s everywhere in [WWE].”

Hart believes that Grant’s allegations are something that McMahon will always be associated with.

“It’s like Jeffrey Dahmer, Harvey Weinstein, or Jeffrey Epstein: Vince will be a joke,” Hart said. “He’ll be used for humor, and you’ll shake your head at the shock value of some joke about, ‘What did Vince McMahon do?’ He’ll always be associated with this story, especially as it gets bigger and bigger and bigger.”

Hart added that, at a convention a few months ago, he apologized to former WWE referee Rita Chatterton for not having believed her 1986 rape accusation against McMahon. In 2022, McMahon agreed to pay Chatterton a multi-million dollar settlement. McMahon said he still denied Chatterton’s claim but was settling to avoid the cost of litigation.

“I apologized from the bottom of my heart,” Hart said, “And I said, ‘I believe that what happened to you, happened to you. And I apologize. I was wrong.’”

Hart sent Slate writer Abraham Josephine Riesman the following text message after their interview:

I think, despite all of the issues I ever had with Vince, I know, deep down, I always respected him; but now, knowing what kind of a weirdo he became, I have absolutely zero respect for him. I do not think I could ever shake his hand if he extended it. Too creepy.

McMahon resigned from WWE and its parent company TKO Group Holdings after Grant’s lawsuit was filed last month. McMahon has denied the allegations and claimed that he will vigorously defend himself against them.