Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs is once again feeling the heat after reports of pressuring a department head to lie to state investigators over the misuse of county vehicles.
Jacobs, better known to WWE fans as Kane, was elected to the mayoral role in August 2018 and re-elected as Knox County Mayor in August of this year.
A lawsuit filed earlier this year stated that Jacobs’ former chief of staff Bryan Hair used a county golf cart at his home while serving under the WWE Hall of Famer in 2020.
Hair would resign but the fallout led to an investigation by the state of Tennessee.
The lawsuit against Jacobs lays out reported efforts that the WWE veteran and aides made to hide misconduct.
It is stated that Jacobs encouraged Paul White, the Knox County Parks and Recreation director, to lie to state investigators about Hair’s illegal personal use of a county-owned golf cart.
When White refused, the irate Knox County mayor cursed at White to do what he was being told, adding that he was ‘not interested in the truth.’
The lawsuit by state investigators highlights the interaction between Jacobs and White:
“Mayor Jacobs became visibly angry and upset, his face turned bright red, and he violently smacked his desk with a closed fist, as he cut (White) off, told (White) to ‘shut the f**k up’ and Mayor Jacobs further stated that he was ‘not interested in the truth.”
White added that Hair threatened to have him fired if he did not lie about Hair’s illegal use of the vehicle.
The lawsuit has been settled with the county agreeing to pay $150,000 to White.
This is the latest controversy for WWE’s Big Red Machine, who was under fire earlier this year for his tweet that “might makes right” in response to Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
In September 2020, Jacobs appeared in a video that attacked medical professionals, calling them “sinister forces” for their work during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Responding, Jacobs said the video was a political statement and that he did not mean for those referenced in the video to see it.
While the man fans know as Kane identifies as a Libertarian, the former WWE Champion was elected in 2018 on the Republican ticket.
