Stephanie McMahon's "What's Your Story?" podcast came out with a new episode today and the guest on the show was AJ Lee, with both women addressing an online incident between them over a decade ago.
The issue took place back in 2015 when then WWE executive Stephanie McMahon responded to an Oscar speech by Patricia Arquette talking about the need for women to have equal rights thanking her having the courage to speak up on such a significant platform.
AJ Lee, who was a member of the women's division back then, caught light of the tweet and called out Stephanie, pointing out that the WWE "divas" have sold record amounts of merchandise, been featured in the highest rated segments on TV yet they were receiving a fraction of the salaries and screen time that their male counterparts received.
The response was not part of any storyline or prompted in any way by WWE and it led to both Stephanie and then WWE CEO Vince McMahon to respond. Both gave short responses thanking Lee for her opinion with Vince stating that the company hears her and to keep watching.
On the podcast released today, Stephanie said she appreciated Lee's direct approach and was actually happy that she tweeted her opinion but admitted that she did not like that Lee specifically targeted her.
"I was actually happy that you posted that. I wasn’t happy that it was directed at me because it wasn’t anything I had direct control over. But I was really happy that you did because that movement, the whole women’s evolution in WWE, it didn’t happen because of executives or it didn’t happen because, I mean, maybe along the way, people voicing their opinions, but it really happened because of the women who paved the way all the way back to the beginning of all of these incredible women who have been inside the squared circle no matter what promotion they were in."
"But then for our audience, when they started the hashtag ‘Give Divas a Chance’ at that time, that’s what couldn’t be ignored. And the audience would never have gotten behind the movement if it weren’t for people like you who actually stood up for women publicly and take on the machine a little bit. It was a big deal, I thought."
Lee responded saying that she knew she was taking a big risk sending out that tweet but felt it was worth it:
"I appreciate that. And I feel like change doesn’t happen unless there’s sacrifice. You have to be willing to lose everything to get what you want. I feel like in every aspect of life, playing it safe might give you a safe life, but I don’t know if it gives you an exceptional life. And so I felt like that was worth it, whatever backlash was going to be. But I thought you were cool after. Like, everyone was pretty chill. It was business and I appreciate that. But, you know, it was a rough time."
