Promoting her music career, former TNA personality Goldylocks (a manager and interviewer with the company in its early years) has been doing the rounds on the interview circuit recently, discussing a variety of TNA releated subjects, notably the fact that she was sexually harrassed by a higher-up (an early TNA investor) during her stint in the company. Discussing her problems with Steve Gerwick, she claimed she went to TNA management about the issue:
"There's the sexual harassment that I endured in the early days of TNA...I went to management, let them know what was going on and saying 'What do you want me to do about it?" And they asked me to keep my mouth shut, don't rock the boat. Because rocking the boat back then, anytime, it's going to screw things up for everybody. It's going to cause attention, they're going to lose money they're going for...sponserships...etc. So they said 'Let us handle this, and please, just keep your mouth shut.' Okay, fine. I have friends there, I didn't want to blow their only shot."
She has mentioned this harassment earlier in a 2008 radio interview noting: "There were some problems, you know. Coming to work every day and being harrassed. And I was...crying every time it happened...but I was told speaking out would wreck everything." TNA Founder Jerry Jarrett also discusses and confirms her story in his book.
Her reward for keeping quiet and being a team player? She claimed shortly afterwards there was a vicious rumour campaign started about her by many of the male wrestlers who thought she was getting too much screentime and resented a woman with little wrestling experience being a big part of the show. This smear campaign labelled her a troublemaker and ultimately led to her firing from the company. She says the company didn't even tell her the news personally: "I just didn't get called again. Waiting week after week...you just know."
Regarding if she was still considering legal action about the sexual harassment (like one woman reportedly is), she told James Guttman on World Wrestling Insanity: "I already had my chance to sue (TNA). If I was going to sue then, I would have done it a long time ago." Generally, Goldylocks is not bitter about her time there and considers it a good learning experience, but the fact that TNA's approach to a complaint about sexual harrassment is apparently to tell the woman involved to "Keep your mouth shut" is somewhat worrying.
Moving on, on the June 10th edition of F4W Daily, Alvarez talked to guest Charles "Konnan" Ashenoff (who is once again working with TNA in Mexico) and asked about his reaction to Terry Taylor's firing (it has been widely reported that Taylor is gone because his name has turned up in numerous lawsuits against TNA). Konnan, who knows a thing or two about suing TNA, said he wasn't surprised:
Bryan: "I don't want to get you into legal trouble, but were you surprised when Terry Taylor got fired?"Konnan: "Absolutely not. Terry Taylor has a long history of sexual harassment, and he never got busted for it... I think...was that the reason he got fired? I know the cover story was another one, but was that the reason?
Bryan: "Well, obviously nothing has been made public, but the rumour is, it was the result of many suits.
Konnan: "Yeah so, you know, obviously he's had a long history of that, and has gotten away with it...like everything else... everything crumbles under its own weight and if you keep doing the same thing over and over again, eventually it will come back and bite you on the ass.Terry...you know, Terry really didn't surprise me at all."
Furthermore, Alvarez has said that Taylor's name has now showed up in lawsuits against TNA, WWF and WCW (he has worked with all three). "He got the trifecta," Alvarez grimly noted on an episode of Wrestling Observer Live. Notably, Taylor's name popped up as part of Konnan's racial discrimination lawsuit in TNA and Sonny Oono's lawsuit in WCW. Sonny was also claiming he and others were subjected to racist treatment. When asked, on Live Audio Wrestling, if there was any chance of Taylor going to WWE to work in a backstage capacity after being released from TNA, Dave Meltzer said it was incredibly unlikely WWE would take that risk because of "all the lawsuits" Taylor is currently named in.
Interestingly, former TNA production manager Randy Ricci, over at the NAWF Piledriver Blog, actually predicted Taylor's firing a few months before it happened, saying: "The story that came to me is that somehow, Terry Taylor (talent relations) is going to be made a 'scape goat' on several items. Which is a shame because Terry isn’t anywhere near TNA’s biggest problems." Taylor was only a minor problem!? Well, that is a scary thought.