By Ryan Saavedra - The Daily Wire
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.