John Cena Begs China For Forgiveness After Accidentally Calling Taiwan a Country

“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.

"F9" star John Cena has professed his love for China after calling Taiwan a "country" during an interview that generated a backlash among fans in Hollywood's most important international market.

The controversy unfolded after Cena — who plays the brother of Vin Diesel's Dom Toretto in the ninth installment of the popular "Fast & Furious" franchise — gave an interview to Taiwanese broadcaster TVBS promoting the film.

"Taiwan is the first country that can watch F9," Cena told the broadcaster in Mandarin.

Taiwan is a self-governed democratic island, but China claims it as its sovereign territory despite the two sides being ruled separately since the end of a civil war over 70 years ago. Beijing considers any suggestion of Taiwan's independence crossing its "red line," and has been increasingly trying to use its economic power to police speech on the topic around the world.

On Tuesday, Cena offered an apology on Weibo, China's popular Twitter-like social media platform. Speaking again in Mandarin, Cena did not refer to Taiwan by name or discuss the incident in detail, but he did say that he "did a lot of interviews" and "made a mistake."

"I'm sorry for my mistake," Cena said. "I must say now, [it's] very, very, very, very important [that] I love, and respect even more, China and the Chinese people."

The episode is a sign of how mindful business in general and Hollywood in particular has become about political sensitivities in China, the world's second biggest economy and the world's biggest box office.

The "Fast & Furious" franchise has traditionally been incredibly well received by Chinese audiences. "F9" took in nearly $136 million in China over the weekend, contributing heavily to what is now the biggest opening for a Hollywood film during the pandemic.

Cena has many fans in China, including more than 600,000 followers on Weibo. He's been studying Chinese for years, and often posts videos on the platform in which he speaks the language while doing movie promos.