Montez Ford Could Be In SERIOUS Legal Trouble Here... (WWE News)
Case hearing set for 10 December after "lap dance" on WWE Raw episode hits court.
Montez Ford (real name Kenneth Crawford) and WWE are now named defendants in a lawsuit filed by a Cook County Sheriff's officer who was working as a security guard for a July episode of Raw.
The suit alleges that Ford/Crawford performed a sexual "lap dance" on guard Noel Lucas without consent. WWE and Netflix have since pulled footage of the incident from on demand re-runs of that particular episode, but clips are still available online.
They show Ford and his Street Profits partner Angelo Dawkins coming through the crowd for their match. Then, Montez stops and gyrates in plain view of Lucas. Fans around them filmed, cheered and laughed throughout, which is said to have caused Noel significant embarrassment.
He's also unhappy that people recognised him after the fact in public, and that his children were "mocked and ridiculed" at school over what happened on the TV show.
The lawsuit filed claims that Lucas "suffered humiliation, embarrassment, and emotional distress". It also points out that WWE "used his image for commercial purposes, which he alleges violates the Illinois Right of Publicity Act" (that portion comes from POST Wrestling's write up on the situation).
A court hearing is scheduled for 10 December. There, Lucas and his legal representatives are seeking unspecified monetary damages, punitive damages, for his legal costs to be covered, and a court order that WWE and Crawford can’t use his identity going forwards.
This is a messy situation that could've been easily avoided. What seemed to be an innocent, jovial moment of fun on television has landed WWE and Montez Ford in hot water.