John Cena committed to the bit while presenting an award — nearly naked — at the 2024 Oscars.
Before presenting the trophy for best costume design on Sunday, March 10, host Jimmy Kimmel enlisted Cena for a skit that didn’t go exactly as planned.
“Tonight is the 50th anniversary of what used to be the craziest moment in Oscars history. At the 46th Academy Awards in 1974 David Niven was introducing Elizabeth Taylor when a nude man — a streaker — ran across the stage,” Kimmel, 56, recalled. “Can you imagine if a nude man ran across the stage today? I said, can you imagine if a nude man ran across the stage today? Wouldn’t that be crazy?”
The cameras panned to Cena, 46, who was hiding behind the set design. After Kimmel asked why Cena didn’t “run across the stage,” Cena said he “changed his mind” about their streaker bit.
“I just don’t feel right about it. It’s an elegant event. You should feel shame right now for suggesting such a tasteless idea,” Cena quipped. “The male body is not a joke.”
Kimmel questioned Cena’s apprehension due to his wrestling past. “I don’t wrestle naked, I wrestle in jorts,” Cena noted, to which Kimmel joked, “Jorts are worse than naked. Come on! You’re really not going to do this? Fine, just give out the award then, god. You’re the worst.”
Cena proceeded to walk to the podium nearly naked while covering his private area with an envelope.
“Costumes — they are so important. Maybe the most important thing there is,” he said as the crowd laughed. “I can’t open the envelope. Can anybody help me?”
While clips from the nominated movies played on screen, Kimmel helped Cena cover up. After Poor Things won, fans took to social media to praise Cena’s participation in the sketch.
“John cena worlds best comedic actor,” wrote one social media user via X. Meanwhile, another viewer applauded Cena, adding, “No matter what anyone says, john cena COMMITS.”
A third commentator called Cena’s bit “the greatest” in Oscars history.
Cena has built a reputation for being very physically fit due to his WWE past. He made his debut in 2002 but subsequently transitioned from wrestling into acting over the years. Cena celebrated his 20-year WWE anniversary in June 2022 by returning for an episode of Monday Night Raw.
“Success isn’t defined by what you have done, but what you pass onto those who come next,” he wrote via X at the time. “If honesty is the core of any relationship, support must be how we show it. Thank you all for the kind words, I’m always in your corner.”
Cena also previously admitted that he wasn’t sure when he would completely retire from wrestling.
“If physically, I’m slower, I’ve said openly to everyone that I will keep doing this until I feel I’m offending the customer. I will continually go out there and do what I can to contribute and add,” Cena explained during an interview with Chris Hardwick in August 2021. “I don’t want to go out there and be like, ‘OK, just let him go out there and do his thing.’ I’m not into that because I know what it’s like to pay for a ticket.”
He added: “If I were to get that on this go-round, it’s a humbling and tough thing that I will have to hurdle. If I get the opposite and it’s like, ‘You’re quicker and can do some things better and define a new personality,’ then that’s a new conversation because I do not have much time left and if I want to give it like, ‘Let’s really commit to this thing and really go all in,’ that’s an honest choice where other stuff will have to take a backseat.”
