WATCH: WWE star John Cena apologizes to China for calling Taiwan a country

Cena made the comment during a promotional tour for the newest addition to the Fast & Furious franchise on the Taiwanese broadcasting network TVBS. Following backlash from Chinese fans, Cena issued an apology and clarified his comments in a video message posted to the Chinese social media platform Sina Weibo.

"Hi China, I'm John Cena. I'm in the middle of Fast and Furious 9 promotions. I'm doing a lot of interviews. I made a mistake in one of my interviews. Everyone was asking me if I could use Chinese – [movie] staff gave me a lot of information, so there was a lot of interviews and information," states a translation of his video message from the South China Morning Post. Cena had previously learned Mandarin as part of a push to promote his wrestling in China.

"I made one mistake. I have to say something very, very, very important now. I love and respect China and Chinese people," Cena continues. "I'm very, very sorry about my mistake. I apologize, I apologize, I'm very sorry. You must understand that I really love, really respect China and the Chinese people. My apologies. See you."

According to the South China Morning Post, there are more than 5,000 comments on his apology video.

"Please say in Chinese that Taiwan is part of China. Otherwise, we won't accept it,” said one user. This comment had over 3,200 likes.

"Then you should say Taiwan is China's!" wrote another Weibo user. "What you have said in the video is nonsense. You can't take benefits from China, but in the meantime, do things to harm China’s interests."

"I like you. I think you truly love China. Don't talk carelessly again about China’s territory and sovereignty," another user threatened.

Cena's apology, on the other hand, was met with backlash of its own on Twitter, with many users surmising that the apology was forced so the movie doesn't lose money in one of its largest markets.