After referring to Taiwan as its own nation, John Cena cowardly felt the need to apologize to China and Chinese fans. This, surprisingly, sparked bipartisan condemnation in America.
Summary
Professional wrestler and actor John Cena was in hot water in China for referring to Taiwan as a country in an interview, which prompted “fury” from Chinese nationalists.
- Speaking in Mandarin (which Cena has reportedly been studying for years) on the Chinese social media site Weibo, Cena apologized profusely to his Chinese fans, saying he “made a mistake.”
- The Communist Chinese consider Taiwan a province and have pressured travel companies for “listing Taiwan as a country on their websites.”
- While many Weibo users were not satisfied with Cena’s apology, it also became the deserved object of scorn and derision of many in the United States, with left-wing nut job Keith Olbermann siding with conservative Sen. Tom Cotton on the issue.
- The New York Times, to its credit, framed Sinophile Cena’s apology around a spate of recent controversies with celebrities and sports figures apologizing to or doing a delicate dance around China.
- The Washington Post’s contributor Sonny Bunch criticized Hollywood at large for the incident, saying they’ve decided taking less controversial or even pro-Communist China stances in their products and the promotion of them is a “small price to pay” for commercial success.
- Vice’s coverage was similarly derisive towards Hollywood, saying American media “has been trying to please the Chinese government”, noting Disney’s problems with their live-action version of Mulan, which was partially filmed in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region (this is the region where millions of Muslim Uighurs have been imprisoned and “reeducated” to be more Chinese).
- The New York Post, Newsmax, and Fox News slammed Cena for apologizing to China.
- RedState characterized the incident as one in which Cena failed “in embarrassing fashion” to use the opportunity to stand up for what is right, and highlighted one tweet that questioned why Hollywood bends over backwards for China despite their blatant human rights violations, but refuses to produce films in the state of Georgia.
- The Washington Times called Cena’s apology “groveling.”
Author’s Take
John Cena is a coward, LeBron James and Adam Silver are cowards. Some things are worth more than money. Reputation and integrity should be among them. John Sino Cena apparently doesn’t believe so. Cena should be ashamed of himself.
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© Dallas Gerber, 2021
