Actor and WWE star John Cena apologized on Chinese social media on Tuesday for having referred to Taiwan as a “country” in recent remarks that he made to promote “Fast & Furious 9.”
“On May 8, TVBS released a video of Cena excitedly promoting the film ‘Fast & Furious 9’ in Mandarin for Taiwanese audiences,” Taiwan News reported. “In the video, Cena emphasized that ‘Taiwan will be the first country to see Fast & Furious 9,’ and speaking to Taiwanese viewers, he reiterated, ‘You are the first to see this movie.’”
Online backlash ensued and Cena rushed to apologize to communist China for offending them. According to the South China Morning Post, Cena said:
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.
I made one mistake. I have to say something very, very, very important now. I love and respect China and Chinese people. 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.
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 Xu (@JoeXu) May 24, 2021
Cena’s remarks that he “really loves” and “really respects” China comes as the world is still recovering from the worst pandemic in more than a century that erupted in Wuhan, China, and that more and more experts and scientists are beginning to believe likely came from a Chinese lab. – READ MORE
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