John Cena has finally revealed why he had to apologise for a viral Taiwan controversy which saw him anger China.
Cena is set to retire from the WWE in his final ever match, taking place tomorrow night (December 13), against Austrian wrestler Gunther.
Fans planning to stream it have been issued a £1,000 warning; however, in the lead-up to the final fight, Cena has been doing a great deal of press.
Between appearances on Joe Rogan, Jimmy Kimmel, and Chris Van Vliet’s podcast, he has been very open about his long career in wrestling, including one of the most viral and controversial moments of his career.
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Cena managed to anger not just a subsection of fans in 2021, but an entire nation’s government whilst being interviewed for the press tour of F9, the ninth instalment of the Fast and Furious franchise.
Cena has spoken Mandarin for years, though not to a fluent level, and decided to do the Chinese leg of his press tour in the native language of the interviewers.
This sparked a huge controversy when he referred to Taiwan as the first ‘country’ to see the film.
The question of whether Taiwan is an independent country is a deeply controversial one, with Taiwan acting independently of China but being considered by many in China to simply be a breakaway province as part of the ‘One China policy’.
Cena was forced to apologise in an embarrassing incident in which he posted on his Weibo account: “I made a mistake, I must say right now. It’s so so so so so so important, I love and respect 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 has finally opened up about the controversy on the Joe Rogan Experience, saying that the mistake came as part of a day in which he was doing ‘a million’ ad reads.
He added: “Just because you know the language doesn’t mean you know the culture... Geopolitics are murky waters, man.
“I had to apologize to China, And in apologizing to China, I p*ssed off my home country. I’m a patriot. I love the United States of America and everything it stands for but it was never enough.
“Nobody was happy. Everybody was f*cked up.
“It was like a Ron Burgundy moment. I just read the thing, and suddenly everyone’s like, ‘What the f*ck did you just say?’”
Cena revealed that he now avoids speaking Mandarin in public as a result of the incident.
John Cena’s final match at Saturday Night’s Main Event will air live on Saturday, December 13 on Peacock in the United States and on WWE’s YouTube internationally.
Topics: John Cena, WWE, China, Joe Rogan, Fast and Furious, TV and Film, Celebrity
Michael Slavin