Professional wrestler and actor John Cena caused a stir at the Academy Awards on Sunday night when he presented the award for best costume design wearing nothing more than a sign that read “Costume Design” over his privates.
The stunt was a nod to the infamous 1974 incident when photographer and activist Robert Opel zoomed naked across the stage, drawing shock and laughter as David Niven introduced Elizabeth Taylor, Deadline reported.
The former WWE superstar, known for his iconic denim shorts or “jorts”, expressed discomfort with the skit.
“Dude, I don’t wrestle naked, I wrestle in jorts,” he protested to Kimmel, whose response was, “Jorts are worse than naked.”
Cena took the stage with sign in hand, delivering a breathy monologue about the meaning of the costume design, only to feign difficulty opening the winner’s envelope. Kimmel then took the reins of the film, announcing the nominees and the eventual winner, “Poor Things,” for best costume design.
CLOCK:
John Cena just took the stage at the Oscars NAKED
The degradation of men continues.
Weak men. Hard times. pic.twitter.com/854Qltrt2R
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) March 11, 2024
The provocative display was met with significant criticism online, as the public took to social media to express their discomfort and disapproval of the stunt. One user bluntly called the act a “humiliation ritual.”
“All that muscle and it’s still so easily manipulated by clarity. A strong mass doesn’t matter when what controls it is so weak,” one tweet read.
Another user lamented the ideological divide: “We’re in two different worlds at this point… really. These disturbing self-serving progressive ideologies have infiltrated everywhere, and Hollywood is a grave example of this. It’s sad to see Cena participate.
“Chicom made him do it,” another user wrote.
It may be recalled that John Cena took to social media in 2021 to apologize profusely for calling the country of Taiwan a country. Cena and Hollywood continue to bow to their new masters.
He apologized in Chinese!
This is so shameful. And here we thought he was a Hollywood tough guy?
CLOCK:
When John Cena doesn’t appear naked around Jimmy Kimmel at the Oscars, he apologizes to China for referring to Taiwan as a country.
This apology video was uploaded to Cena’s Chinese social media Weibo account in 2021. pic.twitter.com/ENgeIJ6v3d
— Shadow of Ezra (@ShadowofEzra) March 11, 2024