The 2024 Oscars awards, the most glorious film awards on the globe went down last Sunday. As expected the event had its own fair share of hits and misses. What stood out however is what former wrestler and actor John Cena did by appearing on stage completely naked. To the shock of many, Cena upon being introduced on stage by host Jimmy Kimmel to announce the winner for the best costume design, ironically clutched the envelope with the name of the winner closely to his groin area and moved all the way to the center of the stage.
The stunt aimed at paying homage to one of the craziest moments in the history of the Academy Awards when in 1974 during the 46th awards ceremony a naked man ran on stage saw Kimmel jokingly hyping the audience about seeing a naked man on stage again.
‘Can you imagine if a nude man ran across the stage today?’, Kimmel asked the audience. All the attendees waited with bated breath not knowing what the host was up to. Then suddenly John Cena popped his head from one side of the stage.
‘I changed my mind. I don’t want to do streaker bit.’ Cena said to Kimmel. The two engaged briefly before Cena slowly limped to the center of the stage saying ‘the male body is not a joke’.
This move instantly brought about different reactions from both those in attendance as well as those who were following the event online. Some critics took it online shaming the actor for what they termed as a ‘humiliation ritual’, while some congratulated him for his braveness.
Two things emerged after the stunt. Unlike the 1974 surprise moment, this year’s ‘nude’ stunt was pre-planned, at least according to Cena’s back team. Secondly, his move was aimed at promoting what is known as a ‘modesty garment’ that is mostly used in the film industry where actors use to cover their private parts in scenes that require them to appear as if they are naked.
Away from the Cena’s ‘nude’ interruption, the following are some of the winners for this year’s Academy Awards;
The Best Picture went to Oppenheimer’s Christopher Nolan, Charles Roven and Emma Thomas
Best Directing went to Oppenheimer’s Christopher Nolan
Best supporting actress – The Holdovers’ Da’Vine Joy Randolph
Best supporting actor – Oppenheimer’s Robert Downey Jr.
Best actor – Oppenheimer’s Cillian Murphy.
Best actress – Poor Things’ Emma Stone
Documentary feature film – 20 Days in Mariupol’s Mstyslav Chernov, Raney Aronson Rath, Michelle Mizner.
Documentary short film – The Last Repair Shop.
