No one expected John Cena to hit the 2024 Academy Awards stage stark naked, but that’s exactly what he did for a gag about the Oscars streaker of 1974.
Watch the video above.
So how did he pull off the cheeky (pun intended) stunt without flashing the audience?
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Backstage photos have revealed the secret insurance policy Cena, 46, had in place to avoid any mishaps while on stage in his birthday suit.
The stunt began when host Jimmy Kimmel told the crowd of A-listers: “At the 46th Academy Awards, 1974, David Niven was in the middle of introducing Elizabeth Taylor when a nude man – a streaker – ran across the stage.
“Can you imagine if a nude man ran across the stage today? Wouldn’t that be crazy?”
Cena’s head then appeared over Kimmel’s shoulder and he hesitated just off-stage, telling the host he wasn’t sure about the stunt anymore.
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“I changed my mind, I don’t want to do the streaker bit anymore. I don’t feel right about it,” the former WWE star said.
“It’s an elegant event! You should feel shame right now for suggesting such a tasteless idea!”
Kimmel urged him on and eventually Cena, who recently starred in the series Peacemaker, emerged with nothing but a well-placed envelope to cover himself.
He began to present the award for Best Costume Design in the nude, before Kimmel wrapped him in a toga made from a curtain.
Now backstage snaps have revealed that Cena actually had a piece of beige fabric adhered to his crotch and rear, protecting his modesty.
It looked like a pair of nude-coloured briefs that had the sides cut off, giving the illusion that Cena was naked even when viewed from the side.
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Cena rose to fame in the 2000s wrestling for then World Wrestling Federation (WWF), which later became World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).
Known for hitting the ring in his iconic jorts (jean shorts) and his ‘Doctor of Thuganomics’ persona, Cena made his acting debut in The Marine in 2006.
The flick was produced by WWE Studios, a division of WWE that finances films, which produced several more of Cena’s projects over the years.
He pulled back from wrestling as his acting career began to take off, with Cena landing a leading role in the Transformers spin-off prequel Bumblebee in 2018.
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More recently he starred as as Jakob Toretto in Fast X, and as Peacemaker in James Gunn’s film The Suicide Squad and a follow-up spin-off series.
Cena even had a small role in the Barbie movie as Mermaid Ken.