The WWE and Fast & Furious 9 star John Cena issued an apology in Mandarin to Chinese fans of his after he called 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.
John Cena apologized in Chinese on Sina Weibo after calling Taiwan a country during an interview promoting Fast & Furious 9 pic.twitter.com/dzRKIYgEzL
— Joe Yizhou Xu (@JoeXu) May 24, 2021
"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.
Speaking as a Chinese person, John Cena is a coward for erasing an entire nation. https://t.co/CMOni6x3k0
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) May 25, 2021
John Cena’s Mandarin sucks
— Jack Posobiec (@JackPosobiec) May 25, 2021
Guys he had to do this. Otherwise they wouldn't show the movie in China. Gotta make sure he doesn't piss off the Chinese market. Gotta make that money. @JohnCena
— J (@JThomp47) May 25, 2021
Is there any clearer a bowing to CCP dictatorship than this? Sickening
— Captain Archibald Haddock (@captainoldsalt) May 25, 2021
I understand he was probably forced to do this from his PR person or someone involved in the movie studio, but man that’s rough to have to apologize for something like that. Apologizing for calling Taiwan a country baffles me
— John Howard (@JohnHow44587933) May 25, 2021
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