WWE star John Cena addressed sexual assault, and trafficking allegations against Vince McMahon during an appearance on a national talk radio show.
Cena was asked about the recently filed lawsuit against Vince McMahon, WWE, and John Laurinaitis when he appeared on SiriusXM’s The Howard Stern Show on Wednesday.
The lawsuit, filed by former WWE staffer Janel Grant, goes into graphic detail describing how she suffered “physical and emotional abuse, sexual assault and trafficking” while working for the company.
Stern asked Cena how he deals with someone he loves getting into “hot water,” which in this instance is referring to sexual assault and trafficking allegations against McMahon. During a long statement about the lawsuit, Cena mentioned that he has always had a “great relationship” with McMahon and is currently focused on taking things “one day at a time.”
I don’t think it’s complicated to talk about,” Cena said after Stern claimed that the allegations against McMahon might be hard for him to address. “I think it’s complicated to listen to. That’s kind of why I don’t necessarily put a lot of time and equity into it. Again, I think 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, 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.
Stern then jumped in and asked Cena: “But what are you going to do though?”
Right now, what I’m going to do is love the person I love, be their friend, and by that it means like, ‘Hey, I love you, you’ve got a hill to climb,’” Cena said. “There’s the saying of like, you don’t know who your friends are until s*** hits the fan or your back’s against the wall. That doesn’t make any of what’s going on any easier to swallow … It sounds so cliche, but it has to be one day at a time. But in the same token, I’ve openly said I love the guy, I’ve got a great relationship with the guy, that’s that.
Cena went on to describe the lawsuit as “super, super unfortunate,” saying that “not only does it deal with an individual I love, but an entity that I love and one that I speak highly of.”
John Cena spoke to Howard Stern this morning. For about 5 minutes as part of their hour-long conversation, they talked about the allegations of sexual misconduct against Vince McMahon. pic.twitter.com/pnKoklkHID
— Brandon Thurston (@BrandonThurston) February 21, 2024
