16-time world champion John Cena comments on the allegations against Vince McMahon.
On January 25, Janel Grant filed a lawsuit against Vince McMahon and WWE in which she alleged that McMahon engaged in sexual assault and sex trafficking of her. McMahon denied the allegations, but he resigned from WWE, and he is under federal investigation.
During an appearace on the Howard Stern Show, the allegations against Vince McMahon came up, with Stern referring to them as “hot water.” Cena was asked to describe how he was handling the situation afte Stern noted that it was complicated to talk about.
“I don’t think it’s complicated to talk about,” John Cena said. “I think it’s complicated to listen to. That’s kinda why I don’t necessarily put a lot of time and equity into it. Again, there’s still a long ways to go. I can say this, I’m a big advocate of love and friendship and honesty and communication. But in the same breath, I’m also a big advocate of accountability.
“I think you explained it well of, if someone’s behavior lies so far outside your value system, that the balance shifts, of like, man, I can’t operate in a world where this works. That’s the end result of being accountable. Right now, what I’m gonna do is love the person I love, be their friend, and by that, it means like, hey, I love you. You got a hill to climb.”
John Cena: This Is Going To Be A Hill To Climb, But I Love The Guy
John Cena continued by citing the saying that you don’t know who your friends are until your back is against the wall. He stated that the situation was a hill to climb, but he loves McMahon.
“There’s the saying of, hey, you don’t know who your friends are until the shit hits the fan or your back’s against the wall,” John Cena said. “That doesn’t make any of what’s going on any easier to swallow. But just telling somebody, ‘I love you. Man, this is gonna be a hill to climb. We’re gonna see what happens, and that’s that.’
“It sounds so cliche, but it has to be one day at a time. But at the same token, I’ve openly said, I love the guy, I got a great relationship with the guy, so that’s that.
John Cena: The Whole Thing Is Super Unfortunate
Stern noted that he wouldn’t want to be the kind of guy that hides, as he would call the person who was in a situation like Vince. Cena emphaized that he believes communciating is helpful. He stated that the situation sucks and it was unfortunate as it also effected WWE. Cena made it clear that he wants to help.
“I think my construct of trying to operate with honesty and communication, I think those are strong leads to handling any problem or any achievement,” John Cena said. “But the whole thing is super, super unfortunate. That’s really the thing that sucks because not only does it deal with an individual who I love, it deals with an entity that I love, and it’s one that I speak highly of. I want everyone to have the experience I had. If you’re an employee at Disneyland, you want everybody to go to Disney and think it’s the greatest place on earth.
“When someone doesn’t, when you find out that there may or may not have been things going on there, that this place I was speaking so great about, well, in some aspects, it needed a lot of work. That’s more than just how do I feel about this person. Now, I shift to, okay, am I doing all I can to make it better? From the advice of, ‘Work as hard as you can and promote as hard as you can,’ is there anything I can do? So not only do I tell my friend I love them, I also switch to the entity and say, ‘How can I help?’”
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