Apologizing for calling the country of Taiwan a “country.” As anyone who pays attention knows, the Republic of China, better known as Taiwan, is its own nation. Though the United States (and most of the world) is officially reticent to recognize it as such because of a decades-long tradition of cow-towing to China, who refuses to recognize Taiwan’s legitimacy. And apparently, WWE star and actor John Cena is a bit conflicted in that he first recognized Taiwan as a country, but later backtracked after his Chinese masters complained.
TheBlaze reports that while promoting Cena’s new movie, he said that Taiwan would be “the first country to see Fast & Furious 9.” Naturally, this led to China throwing a tantrum:
The problem with Cena’s statement, according to communist China, is that he acknowledged Taiwan as a sovereign country separate of China. The communist government claims Taiwan as its territory, but Taiwan claims to be a sovereign, self-governing republic. Conflict over Taiwan’s status stems from the 20th century Chinese civil war, which has never technically ended.
Taiwan’s independence, unfortunately, is mostly unacknowledged on the world stage — most countries have not established official diplomatic relations with Taiwan — and China aggressively polices speech regarding Taiwan. The communist government considers the recognition of Taiwan’s sovereignty as crossing the proverbial “line in the sand.”
Cena, apparently terrified that China would ban the movie or otherwise hurt his bottom line, uploaded a weird, groveling apology to China.
“Hello, China. This is John Cena. I did many, many interviews for Fast & Furious 9. In one of the interviews I made a mistake,” Cena said. “I love and respect China and Chinese people. I’m very, very sorry for my mistake. Sorry, sorry. I’m very sorry. You must understand I love and respect China and Chinese people. Sorry. Goodbye.”
Cena’s groveling did not go well for him. People flocked to the post to admonish him for his spinelessness:
can't get hit with a spinebuster if you don't have a spine. pic.twitter.com/K1bYJboa7X
— Brody Logan (@BrodyLogan) May 25, 2021
Taiwan is a country and John Cena is humiliating himself in the hopes that Chinese people turn out to see a really stupid movie franchise.
— Jeremy (@outandaboutjc1) 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
Ya know what @JohnCena you're right, I cant see you. Not anymore.
— .Zack//Rabbit (@ZackTaylorFA) May 25, 2021
If you were previously a fan of John Cena, you’re probably not anymore. But hey — at least we know for a fact that John Cena is and has always been a sellout to the Chinese propaganda machine who will always put his own interests above those of anyone else’s