John Cena’s Oscar “streak” of a Costume Design presentation had the live audience rolling as he pretended to sweat out how he couldn’t drop or lift the envelope without showing off everything to the world. As it turns out, the real sweating parties were the Standard and Productions executives who feared that some “crack” or “bulge” would slip into the broadcast, which would of course set off a world of legal and financial hurt for ABC.
With that said, Cena wasn’t entirely naked (although Fox News host Brian Kilmeade appreciated the hair removal aspect) because he had some nude fabric affixed to both areas of concern. He was also as much of a Ken doll as Ryan Gosling when it came to reducing the bulge, according to Walt Disney TV alternative head Rob Mills while speaking with Variety:
“I’m going to educate you a little here,” Mills says. “A bulge cannot be showing, and you can’t show crack. It was also, ’What happens if he drops that card?’ So, we made sure that, for all intents and purposes, he looked like a Ken doll up front. His crack was covered in the back and then the envelope was Velcro-ed on there so it wouldn’t fall. But beyond that, he was naked.”
Jimmy Kimmel Live! producer Molly McNearney added that the S&P execs were “sweating,” but eventually, everyone seemed to settle down to where “it didn’t compromise the comedy a bit.” And on Monday night’s late-night broadcast, Kimmel revealed of the lead-up stress, “Somebody was crying.” He then added, “Then once they realized we weren’t going to take no for an answer … there was intense discussion about the the envelope.” From there, S&P wanted to use a “shoebox”-sized envelope rather than what materialized, and Kimmel handed “congratulations” to Cena: “The commotion you caused. Very rarely does an idea literally push the envelope and this one did.”
Yup, that envelope had an important job to do, too.
