upworthy

red carpet

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For someone whose catchphrase is "You can't see me!" he sure knows how to make others feel seen.

So many of our favorite celebrity moments are when “stars” treat everyday people with the same honor, respect, and admiration the world often bestows upon them. When they break through any preconceived hierarchical structure caused by fame and simply exist with their fellow humans.

In July 2025, Peacemaker star John Cena shared this kind of moment while on the red carpet for the premiere of Amazon Prime’s Heads of State.

john cena, john cena interview, peacemaker, peacemaker season 2, celebrity news, heads of state, amazon prime A snippet from the notorious Peacemaker intro. media4.giphy.com

Tushar Joshi, a journalist who had traveled in from India, asked Cena who he would like to have an interview with, and what he might ask this person. Rather than naming some arbitrary icon, Cena simply makes the interviewer the interviewee. And it ended up being a truly wholesome exchange.

“So if we get to swap places, and I get to ask you a question,” Cena begins, "you flew in when?” He then quips, “That’s not my question.”

Joshi then reveals he flew about ten hours, from Bombay, to Abu Dhabi, to London, where the premiere was being held.

Then Cena says, “You flew all this way to be in the heat, to be behind the camera, and drive a journalistic interview…why do you do what you do?”

To Joshi’s credit, he didn’t miss a beat in delivering a pretty awesome answer, one that Cena couldn't help but smile at.

“Because I absolutely love the movies, it’s in my blood. And I can’t think of anything else than doing this. This moment that I’m sharing with you right now is exactly why I think I was born, and why I’m here. Absolutely love my job.

Grinning ear to ear, Cena replies, "That's one hell of an answer. I dig your passion. And I think that's who I would ask and why I would ask it. Thanks for making me think that way. I appreciate you.”

In Joshi’s caption, he would later share that it was a moment he was totally “unprepared for” but one that really gave him a dose of confidence.

"What came out of my mouth as he was rushed out on the carpet was also an eye opener for me,” he wrote. “So when you have those moments of doubt and you wonder, if what you do is worth it, it helps to get a perspective from someone else. And if that someone else is John Cena, then that moment becomes one the most memorable moments of your life..”

Perhaps this display of kindness should come as no surprise, considering that Cena has made notable positive impact through his charitable work, particularly with the Make-A-Wish Foundation, where he famously set the world record for most wishes granted (650), as well as being an outspoken ally for the LGBTQ+ community and veterans. Then again, it’s one thing to do charitable acts, and another to be able to simply make another human feel seen, which is what viewers really commended him for after watching this video.

“Bro pulled out the uno reverse and the result was UNREAL 👏👏👏”

“It doesn’t matter to me how much money someone has or how famous they are. It’s how they treat people and respect them that matters to me. John Cena is a class act and he has a great heart. This was a beautiful, touching exchange by the both of them. He made the journalist feel seen and that he matters.”

“So nice to see someone who’s ‘made it’ act like a human being. Rare but commendable.”

“John saw the moment, and rose to the moment's occasion, creating a moment between the two that was mutually shared in kindness and uplifting positivity. This, this is what it means to be superhuman. ❤️”

This is the kind of celebrity news that we should be inundated with, don't you think?

This article originally appeared on 01.26.15


The interview starts out pretty normal.

"So tell me what you're wearing tonight."


And then the reporter takes a slight but somewhat harmless turn.

"When did you get up this morning to get ready?"

"Who did your hair?"

Now this is when Kevin starts to realize something is up.

"What about mani-pedi? Show us your mani-pedi."

"Have you been dieting for months getting ready for this?"

"What about Spanx? Do you have any Spanx on tonight?"

You're right, Kevin! It is f**ked up. Fashion is cool, but let's give leading ladies a bit more credit, shall we? Why do actors get to answer all the interesting questions about their favorite movies and TV shows while actresses usually just get asked about their bodies? While this video is pretty funny, these types of superficial and sometimes invasive questions that actresses regularly deal with on the red carpet aren't very funny at all. Check out the full video below.

If you could give a piece of advice to your younger self, what would it be? Be bolder? Care less (or more) about schoolwork? Don't sweat the small stuff?

We'd all have words of wisdom to pass down. But for LGBTQ people who've struggled with their identities as kids, those words may carry especially critical messages.

I posed the question to LGBTQ stars and allies who walked the red carpet at TrevorLive — a fundraising gala benefitting The Trevor Project — on June 11 in New York.

Here's what they had to say.


Figure skater Adam Rippon and skier Gus Kenworthy — two of the first openly gay male Olympians to compete for the U.S. — hosted TrevorLive. Photo by Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images for The Trevor Project.

Olympic skier Gus Kenworthy: "I would tell myself that — as hard as I'm going to try to be what everyone expects me to be or what I thought everyone expects me to be — in the end, it's not going to make me happy."  

"The only time I'm really going to be happy is when I understand that and accept myself for who I am, and share that self with the world. And hopefully would have encouraged myself to do it a lot earlier."

Skiier Gus Kenworthy is among the first openly gay male Olympians in U.S. history. Photo by Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images for The Trevor Project.

"Orange Is the New Black" star Natasha Lyonne: "I would tell myself, 'Kid, if you can make it — you, you troublemaker — we all can make it. It gets better.'"

"I would say to that person that everyone is a little bit broken, and that's their underlying beauty. So that's OK."

Photo by Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images for The Trevor Project.

Film producer Greg Berlanti: "A lot of the things I wanted to change about myself back then are the things I love most about myself now."

"And it doesn't seem possible when you're in that moment because you feel like they're preventing you from having the life that you want. But really they end up being the sort of gateway to the life that you want."

"Love, Simon" director Greg Berlanti, who won the evening's Hero Award, prioritizes LGBTQ representation in his many film and TV projects. Photo by Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images for The Trevor Project.

Model and TV personality Carmen Carrera: "One word of advice I would probably give my younger self is to talk to my mom. Just talk to mom!"

"Tell her how you feel. And just know that everything is going to be OK — that you are a human being, that you belong here, that you have a place here, and you don't ever have to worry about people not loving you."

Carmen Carrera is a trailblazing transgender model and TV personality. Photo by Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images for The Trevor Project.

Internet star and activist Raymond Braun: "I would say, 'I love you,' because my 10-year-old self was struggling a lot."

"At that point, I knew that I was gay, but I thought that I was going to live my entire life in the closet and never come out. I had so much internalized shame and hatred about my identity because I was being bullied every day."

Photo by Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images for The Trevor Project.

"I would have told myself to call [The Trevor Project] because I would have known there were resources out there and people out there."

The night was full of both celebration and sobering reflections for the 20-year-old nonprofit, which fights suicide among LGBTQ youth.

The event raised over $2 million for The Trevor Project — the most ever garnered from TrevorLive. Every penny of that and more is still desperately needed to save young lives.

Teens who identity as queer — and especially those who identify as transgender — are disproportionately affected by suicide. And while society has taken significant strides forward in LGBTQ rights and visibility, that progress has been met with backlash, fresh challenges, and a vicious political climate that often leaves queer youth particularly vulnerable.

Producer and actress Lena Waithe, who took home the organization's Hero Award alongside Berlanti, reminded the room that there's still much that needs to be done.

Photo by Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images for The Trevor Project.

"I'm really moved by the stories I'm hearing and the faces I'm seeing and all the love — but don't treat each other like this just in this room," she said. "We need to take it out into the world. ... It's our job to make sure all queer people are human. They weren't born to be perfect. They were born to be whole."

Learn more about LGBTQ youth suicide and support The Trevor Project here.

Oscar nominees and presenters brought some blue flair to the red carpet for the 2017 Academy Awards.

Stars pinned bright blue ribbons to their formal attire as part of the American Civil Liberties Union's Stand With ACLU initiative.

Ruth Negga, Oscar nominee and star of "Loving." Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images.


The campaign, which launched last week, encourages celebrities and industry professionals to wear the ribbon as a bold symbol of solidarity with the national nonprofit.

Oscar nominee Lin-Manuel Miranda poses with a "Hamilton" cookie on the red carpet. Photo by Tommaso Boddi/AFP/Getty Images.

The simple adornment is similar to the red ribbon made popular in the early 1990s many stars wore to raise awareness of HIV and AIDS.

Model Karlie Kloss rocks her ribbon on the red carpet. Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images.

Since 1920, the ACLU has offered tireless, nonpartisan commitment to protecting individual rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution and U.S. law.

This includes standing against President Donald Trump's overreaching executive order, which banned refugees from seven Muslim-majority nations; fighting tirelessly for LGBTQ equality including transgender students seeking equal access and protection; and preserving the right to vote in the face of gerrymandering and felony disenfranchisement.

Protesters demonstrate in Philadelphia.Photo by Mark Makela/Getty Images.

Their unrelenting support of free speech and the right to assemble even extends to groups like the Ku Klux Klan, the Westboro Baptist Church, and the Washington R*dskins, whose rights and liberties they've defended and supported in court — because the rights of extreme or controversial groups are often attacked first, and if those attacks are allowed to stand, it threatens the freedom of us all.

"Once the government has the power to violate one person’s rights, it can use that power against everyone," the ACLU site reads. "We work to stop the erosion of civil liberties before it’s too late."

Protesters shout at a Ku Klux Klan member at a Klan demonstration in 2015 in South Carolina. Photo by John Moore/Getty Images.

Even if you're not walking the red carpet, you can still show your support.

Since the 2016 election, the ACLU has raised more than $79 million online from more than 1 million generous donors, including a $24 million surge over two days following the refugee ban.

With that budget boost, the ACLU will boost operations at the state and local level, hire additional lawyers in Washington, D.C., and New York, and invest $13 million in citizen engagement, including protests.

Thousands of people gather at City Hall in San Francisco to protest President Trump and to show support for women's rights. Photo by Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images.

You can support the ACLU by connecting with your local chapter to volunteer or making a contribution. Do your part and give what you can. You don't need a red carpet to take a stand.

Photo by Jonathan Leibson/Getty Images for Vanity Fair.