John Cena on Vince McMahon: “Right now I’m gonna love the person I love, be their friend”

16-time world champion John Cena appeared on Howard Stern this morning and Stern brought up the Vince McMahon sexual trafficking and abuse allegations for discussion.

Stern said that he knows that Cena loves WWE and Vince but “what the f*ck?” Stern said he had a few friends who he loved but were also accused of some bad stuff, and Cena asked how he handled it. After Stern explained how he navigated through the whole ordeal, he said he thinks it’s very complicated to talk about it.

Cena said he doesn’t think it’s complicated to talk about it, but it is complicated to listen to it and that’s why he doesn’t put a lot of time and equity into it as there’s still long ways to go.

“I can say this, I’m a big advocate of love and friendship and honesty and communication, in the same breath, I’m also a big advocate of accountability,” Cena said. “I think you explained it well, if someone’s behavior lies so far outside of 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.”

Cena said that for now, he’s going to “love the person I love” and be their friend.

“There is the saying of, ‘You don’t know who your friends are until shit hits the fan or your back is against the wall.’ That doesn’t make any of what’s going on any easier to swallow. Just telling someone you love them, it’s a hill to climb, and we’ll see what happens,” he concluded.