Janel Grant To Speak At Survivor Advocacy Event In WWE’s Home State Of Connecticut

Janel Grant changed the history of professional wrestling when she spoke out about her experience with ex-WWE CEO Vince McMahon, and soon, she will extend her impact far beyond the ring. Advocates and survivors appear in Hartford, Connecticut to push for further legal protections for sexual violence survivors, and Grant will be on the front lines, in WWE’s home state, to offer her voice.

A press release from The Connecticut Alliance to End Sexual Violence (The Alliance) was posted onto X, formerly known as Twitter, by PWTorch’s Brian Zilem. In the report, Grant and Alex Brown, another sexual violence survivor, were announced as speakers for The Alliance’s gathering outside Hartford’s Legislative Office Building the morning of February 19. Grant and Brown’s testimonies, The Alliance hopes, will pressure lawmakers to integrate the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) into state law, whilst changing Connecticut’s NDA laws — laws that, The Alliance claims, are used to suppress survivors and their stories.

“We are all more vulnerable to coercive control than we realize,” Grant said in The Alliance’s statement. “Coercive control happens in increments, and entire industries are built on systems of coercive control. Tools such as NDAs can be used to ominously justify anything, and even turn a life into someone else’s storyline, keeping even those who have not signed confidentiality agreements working in fear.”

Grant hoped that her presence at The Alliance’s gathering will encourage “others with information” to work alongside her to create a safer world. The Alliance described Grant’s NDA with WWE as a factor that impacts her ability to speak freely about sexual violence.

While Grant’s appearance alongside The Alliance hopes to bring change, Grant’s own civil lawsuit against McMahon and WWE has hit a bump in the road after a Connecticut District Court judge recently denied an early discovery motion filed by Grant’s team.