Jimmy Kimmel and John Cena at the 96th Academy Awards on March 10, 2024, in Hollywood, California.Photo:Kevin Winter/Getty Images
Kevin Winter/Getty Images
Jimmy Kimmelis revealing some of the nuts and bolts behindJohn Cena’s unforgettableOscars2024 appearance.
During his monologue onJimmy Kimmel Live!Monday following his Academy Awards hosting gig the previous night, Kimmel, 56, said thatthe body-baring moment from Cena, 46, came as Kimmel’s team “wanted to do something to celebrate the 50th anniversary ofthe Oscars streaker.”
“Remember the guy who ran naked across the stage?” he said. “So I asked John Cena to present the Oscar for Best Costume Design with no clothes on,just an envelope in front of him.”
And while the actor and wrestler was “very funny” during the bit, “Getting this on the air … of all the times I’ve hosted the Oscars or theEmmysor anything, no comedy bit has ever received more scrutiny than this one,” Kimmel admitted.
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John Cena at the 96th Academy Awards on March 10, 2024, in Hollywood, California.Kevin Winter/Getty Images
“There were meetings and side meetings, there were emails and texts and phone calls. There were people were sweating; somebody was crying,” he went on.
“Then once they realized we weren’t gonna take no for an answer, there were intense discussions about the size of the envelope and whether we needed to Velcro it to John’s body, [whether] we had to fill his crack and [have] socks. Various testicalia was discussed,” Kimmel joked.
After bringing out the giantenvelope they were originally were going to useto cover Cena’s front and showing it to the audience, Kimmel congratulated Cena for “the commotion [he] caused.”
“Very rarely does an idealiterallypush the envelope, and this one did,” the comedian and late-night host added.
Kimmel concluded with, “And I want to apologize for nearly killing our department of standards and practices,” after joking earlier that the S&P department actually stood for “scrotum & penis.”
John Cena (R) at the 96th Academy Awards on March 10, 2024, in Hollywood, California.Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times via Getty
Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times via Getty
“We made sure that, for all intents and purposes, he looked like aKen dollup front,” Walt Disney Television executive VP Rob Mills toldVariety. (Fittingly, Cenastarred inthe hit 2023 filmBarbieas aKen doll merman, oppositeDua Lipa’s Mermaid Barbie.)
Cena’s “crack,” Mills added, “was covered in the back and then the envelope was Velcro-ed on there so it wouldn’t fall. Butbeyond that, he was naked.”
Per the executive, “a bulge cannot be showing, and you can’t show crack” when it comes to the Federal Communications Commission’s rules about what can be shown on live television.
“It was also, ’What happens if he drops that card?’ ” Mills added.
source: people.com
