Host Jimmy Kimmel and John Cena got big laughs for their bit at last night’s Oscars where Cena appeared on stage naked and covering his genitals with an Academy Awards envelope, a nod to the importance of costume design.
But some QAnon believers didn’t find the gag funny, deeming it the work of “Hollywood pedophiles, rapists and perverts.”
Presenters at the Awards usually joke or banter with others onstage before presenting each award category. Cena’s was an homage to the Oscars streaker—a man who ran across the stage naked during the 46th Oscars ceremony in 1974.
When presenting the Best Costumes award, Cena poked his head out and told Kimmel that he didn’t want to do the streaking bit anymore.
Kimmel urged him onstage, and Cena finally acquiesced while holding just an envelope over his crotch. After the nominees were announced, Cena appeared wearing a dress made out of curtains—yet another homage to the Awards’ past.
Gone With the Wind swept the 1940 ceremony and featured the lead character wearing a curtain dress.
Liz Crokin, a fervent QAnon supporter, posted a video of Cena being outfitted in the curtain dress on X, alongside the assertion the entire joke was disgraceful as “children are most likely watching,” and a “humiliation ritual.”
“This is not just a humiliation ritual — the Hollywood pedophiles, rapists and perverts are certainly getting off on this. I’m sure Jimmy Kimmel is as well!” Crokin tweeted. “These people are sick!”
QAnon, a conspiracy theory widespread among former President Donald Trump supporters, alleges Democratic leaders—like President Joe Biden, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and philanthropist George Soros, among others—and Hollywood elites run a child sex trafficking ring and eat children because they possess a “life-extending chemical called adrenochrome.”
Thus, to Crokin, Cena’s Oscars stunt was proof of the Hollywood elites were pedophiles, and willing to shove it in our faces.
Crokin also accused Kimmel of other QAnon adjacent activity, like having Tom Hanks “do a skit on his show sexualizing little girls” and “featuring an FBI-identified pedophile symbol in it and a pizza.”
Some conspiracy believers think any mention of “pizza” is a reference to Pizzagate, a theory that posits big-name Democrat are sex traffickers working inside a D.C. pizza parlor.
@MJTruthUltra, another far-right account with almost 200,000 followers, tweeted a similar message to Crokin’s about Cena.
“This is called the Humiliation Ritual,” he wrote.
Other accounts parroted the same rhetoric.
“Congratulations on John Cena completing the initiation hazing, and becoming the newest member of the Illuminati!” sad one.
“All of them are sell outs. John Cena did his humiliation ritual at the Oscars,” @ElijahPros wrote. “These men are not masculine and have no morals they [bow] down to their gay keepers. They contribute to promote rapist, pedophiles, child molesters etc. Clear they have an agenda.”
“Lost ALL Respect for fucking Pedophiles !!!!!! Kids watch this crap,” @CDDenham008 tweeted. “Move to China John Cena. Unbelievable.”
“John Cena is a fool for his Oscar’s stint!” @divadollnik_e wrote. “Keep degrading yourself at the hands of pedophiles…”
Cena is QAnon’s latest target, but he’s not alone. The Dalai Lama, Sam Smith, and Chrissy Teigen, and many others have faced the group’s ire in the past.
