John Cena is slammed as 'pathetic and spineless' for groveling in Mandarin and declaring his love for China after accidentally wading into territorial dispute by calling Taiwan a country while promoting Fast & Furious movie
John Cena has been slammed as 'pathetic' and 'spineless' for groveling to China in Mandarin, saying he 'really, really loves China and the Chinese people', after enraging them by referring to Taiwan as a country.
Taiwan and many Democratic countries around the world consider it an independent country with its own government. It is a source of contention in Asia and around the world, and where other countries stand on it can tip their diplomatic relations with Beijing.
The US has always done a delicate dance by supporting Taiwan with aide and military, without overtly going against Beijing. Trump tore up that precedent by ending decades of tradition and sending top state officials to Taipei in September 2020.
Biden's administration is less critical of China but in January, when Beijing sent warplanes over Taiwan in an apparent test of America's loyalty, the state department replied saying its support of Taiwan was 'rock solid'. Tensions appear to be rising in the region with China increasing its military presence on the strait.
Cena found himself at the center of the row when, during an interview on the Taiwanese network TVBS on May 8, he said in Mandarin: 'Taiwan is the first country that can watch F9.' [his new Fast & Furious movie].
Cena is fluent in Mandarin, having picked it up when he was touring the world as a WWE wrestler. China has long been a major market for Hollywood, but it also rakes in millions for the American wrestling industry too.
Chinese fans and the government after seeing his video, were irate that after years of worshiping him, Cena didn't identify Taiwan as part of China.
They slammed him on Weibo - often called the 'Chinese Twitter' - and threatened to boycott the movie franchise in response to his comments.
'Fast & Furious can say goodbye! WWE star John Cena (Xina Zhao) said that Taiwan is the first "country" where you can see "F9". He has studied Chinese for so many years and said that he loves China very much. This mistake really shouldn't happen,' one said.
Cena, feeling the heat of the criticism from Chinese fans, recorded an apology video which he released on Tuesday on Weibo, where he has 600,000 followers.
John Cena released a video on Weibo this week, apologizing to fans and saying how much he loved China, after outraging them by calling Taiwan a 'country' in an interview. Cena is fluent in Mandarin and often releases videos on Weibo to connect with fans. China is one of the largest markets for the Fast & Furious franchise. F9 - the most recent movie - pulled in over $130million in its opening weekend in China
He groveled: '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.'
The video was played 2.4 million times on the strictly-controlled social media site, while Chinese media leapt on the apology.
Cena made no mention of the controversy on Twitter - where he has millions of followers and tweets in English.
Instead, on Tuesday morning he tweeted cryptically: 'Being discouraged by failure is normal, being detained by failure can be toxic.
'Learn, rise, grow. Never give up.'
Universal, the studio which makes Fast & Furious, has not commented.
The film was released in China and Taiwan on May 21 - five weeks before its US release on June 25.
Cena has been slammed as spineless and a 'coward' by conservatives who say it is yet another example of Hollywood ignoring China's faults while happily taking its money.
'Taiwan is a country. Hong Kong should be free.
The director of F9, the movie Cena was promoting, is Justin Lin. He was born in Taipei
'If you are unwilling to say these things because it might hurt your bottom line, you are a pathetic coward,' Ben Shapiro tweeted.
Cena's apology is the latest example of Hollywood and big business bowing to China out of fear of losing the exorbitant profits that are up for grabs there.
Last year, Pen America - a free speech organization based in New York - issued a damning report about how Hollywood had been repeatedly bowing to pressure from China for fear of losing out on the money it represents for the industry.
'Studio parent companies have a slate of Chinese business interests.
This is the type of backlash Cena had been receiving on Weibo after going on Taiwanese TV network TVBS and calling Taiwan a country. The post above is from Weibo but has been translated from its original format
Cena made no mention of the controversy on Twitter - where he has millions of followers and tweets in English. Instead, on Tuesday morning he tweeted cryptically: 'Being discouraged by failure is normal, being detained by failure can be toxic. Twitter is banned in China
'Disney, for example, has a 47 percent stake in the Shanghai Disneyland Park, which opened in 2016 and which cost over $5.5 billion to build.
'Universal Studios, meanwhile, is planning to open the Universal Beijing Resort next year—complete with two theme parks, six hotels, a waterpark, and an entertainment complex—with construction reportedly continuing even during the coronavirus pandemic.
'All of these business pressures combine so that, in the words of University of California Los Angeles Professor Michael Berry, Hollywood studios “would be silly not to address the censors.
'The Hollywood companies are increasingly savvy and increasingly paranoid.
'Instituting self-censorship is the way to go, especially as the big mainstream blockbusters need China. Hollywood has internalized these self-censorship mechanisms.'
In 2019, the NBA found itself at the center of a global debate over protests in Hong Kong after Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey tweeting in support of Hong Kong protests.
He then deleted the tweet and apologized to China.
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