John Cena recently said his sorry to the people of China for what else but calling Taiwan a country.
In a video released on Weibo, the actor can be heard talking in Mandarin to his Chinese fans, saying that he has made a mistake and that he respects and loves China and Chinese people.
“I’m very sorry for my mistakes. Sorry. Sorry. I’m really sorry. You have to understand that I love and respect China and Chinese people,” Cena said.
Tony Lin, a producer at the media company Vice News, has translated Cena’s message with English subtitles on his Twitter account.
Per popular request, here's Mr. John Cena's apology video with English subtitles. I kept all the incoherence in the video, as well as the curious absence of what he's actually apologizing for pic.twitter.com/WmJlRcyOID
— Tony Lin 林東尼 (@tony_zy) May 25, 2021
The issue sparked earlier in an interview with Taiwanese broadcaster TVBS, when Cena reportedly made a slip by saying that Taiwan is the first country that can watch his new movie “F9”.
It is noted that the People’s Republic of China considers Taiwan its territory despite some protest among the Taiwanese themselves.
There have been many instances of filmmakers, athletes and brands apologising to China over similar slips when it comes to Hong Kong and Taiwan’s status, including NBA, which apologises in 2019 after a tweet by Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey supporting the Hong Kong protests.
McDonald’s also committed a similar gaffe which angered China after showing an ad in Taiwan that included a two-second clip of a student ID card that showed Taiwan as a country.
