John Cena and Jimmy Kimmel reflected on the former’s infamous Oscars debut.
Cena was a guest on Jimmy Kimmel Live, where the two looked back on Cena’s 2024 Academy Awards appearance. Cena walked on the stage almost completely naked, aided by a large index card that said “Costume Design.”
“The card was so small,” Cena told Kimmel with a laugh.
Kimmel asked if Cena remembered how much negotiation was involved with the size of the index card. Cena joked that the standards and practices department ruins all the fun, then shared his original idea for the bit.
“I wanted to go out there with my incredibly underwhelming, odd-shaped penis just in the wind,” Cena said.
Kimmel says he wanted it to be a regular-sized index card, but standards and practices were worried they might have an “incident.” They added some “real estate” and made the card larger, but Cena still had to take precautions so that he wouldn’t show too much of his butt.
“Yes, yes [I was all glued up]. You can’t show b-hole,” Cena said.
“Can’t show the exit door at all. Can’t show your b-hole. Yep, so I had my b-hole taped. It was real, this happened,” Cena added.
In the past, Cena has said that being all taped up was almost more embarrassing than just having his bare butt hanging out.
John Cena is still very appreciative of the experience
Cena says the production team checked on him to make sure things were going to plan, joking that he even got some visitors who didn’t work there. Despite being part of the punchline, Cena still appreciates the opportunity to be in a room that he says he didn’t belong in.
“First of all, I don’t belong in that room, so you gave me a chance, an opportunity, to stand in front of people who inspire me and whom I admire, and have a few seconds. And that was really important.”
Cena said that his background in WWE taught him that keeping things a surprise means missing out on some of the fun. He didn’t walk the red carpet, but hid away until it was time for a quick rehearsal. Cena said he missed out in that sense, but it was about making the sketch good, not about what he wanted.
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