John Cena — a.k.a. The Champ, a.k.a. the Doctor of Thuganomics, a.k.a. The Face of the WWE, a.k.a. the refreshingly hilarious breakout star of cool comedy movies like Trainwreck and Sisters — does quite a lot of things. He’s working with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to eradicate polio, he shot an anti-homophobia PSA, and he also has his own web series called John Cena: Auto Geek. It’s like Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, except it’s John Cena, not ‘90s comedians, and it’s all about the cars, and Cena test driving and geeking out all over the place.
It’s in his capacity as a semi-pro Top Gear re-creator that has landed America’s tough-but-cool older brother in trouble.
In this episode of Auto Geek, Cena tackles a rare and monstrous 2017 Ford GT and navigates it through Tampa. It’s strong, fast, loud…and costs almost half a million dollars. You can’t just buy one of these like a regular car, however, with Ford requiring certain stipulations for GT owners. For one, you have to agree to keep it for at least two years before selling it. Cena, apparently, didn’t do that.
After buying the car (fun fact: John Cena is rich) and shooting the Auto Geek episode, the wrestler/actor sold it less than a month later. That violated the agreement, and Ford filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Michigan.
When notified that he’d been served, Cena responded with a polite, “I completely understand and as stated am willing to work with Ford to make it right. My sincerest apologies.”
Why Cena sold the car speaks to some bigger problems for the star. He claims to have liquidated the car to quickly raise cash so he could pay down some bills. Cena’s fans on Twitter, however, are brushing off the suit and the news like Cena would brush off, um, other wrestlers in the ring:
JOHN CENA IS A RICH AND RESPONSIBLE MAN. FAKE NEWS. https://t.co/MmEAfwHHkR
— Nelson (@wiretap804) December 1, 2017
Its not fake news. John Cena probably knew even beforehand that this was going to happen. If I have to guess, he didn't liked the car and sold it despite knowing the contract. He would pay some money and move on.
— Sexy egg (@F_ur_bullshit) December 1, 2017
I’ve always loved @Ford but suing @JohnCena for damages??! You’ll end up hurting your image much more than you’ll ever see from that lawsuit
— Robert Abel Aguilar (@robaggy) December 1, 2017
Ford can't see him!
— Joob Jaibot (@JJRavenation52) December 1, 2017