In an interview with Piers Morgan Uncensored (via Wrestling Inc), Charly Arnolt said she witnessed several instances of inappropriate behavior when she was in WWE, although she didn’t report it at the time. She noted that she didn’t work much with Vince McMahon, who is currently under investigation for sexual misconduct. Here are highlights:
On inappropriate behavior in WWE: “What I’ve always said is, if you do not have a thick skin, you do not belong working in the WWE. Were there many instances where I probably could have gone to HR over something small or even something that probably had a little bit more oomph to it? Yes. Was I the person to do that? No. Now I’m not saying that I was, you know, mistreated in any certain sort of way, but there were definitely things that went on at WWE that if an outsider were to get a glimpse on the inside, they would say, ‘What is going on here? How are people working in these specific conditions?’ But it’s just one of those things that you kind of went with when you were working with the WWE. I’m interviewing men who were wearing nothing but like tiny little Speedos on, so it’s kind of like the job.”
On working with McMahon: “From my perspective, I didn’t always get such a clear look at who Vince McMahon was, I didn’t have to be in the writer meetings, like a lot of people did. I basically would show up to work, be given a script [and told to] say, ‘This is what you’re doing.’ And I would generally communicate with other people on the writing staff, my bosses, which mainly included Michael Cole. But what I will say is that even in my position, where I wasn’t interacting with Vince on a regular basis, I think, like everybody else, I always aspired to get validation from Vince McMahon because when you did cross paths with him in the back of, you know, the arena or in the hallway, if he would say something to you, it would mean something — even a simple ‘hello’ because Vince, a lot of times, wouldn’t even address you. And if he would address you, it means he either found you were doing something correctly or he liked how you were going about things, and especially when you got a ‘good job’.”
