U.S. actor and former World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. champion John Cena apologized for describing Taiwan as a country in a promotional video for his latest movie, saying sorry in Mandarin after the comments triggered a backlash in China.
Cena made the apology in a clip posted Tuesday on his official Weibo account, a Chinese social media platform like Twitter. He had earlier this month indicated that Taiwan was a country in a video promoting his film “Fast & Furious 9,” according to China’s state-run Global Times newspaper.
“I made a mistake. I must say now that, very very very importantly, I love and respect China and Chinese people,” Cena said in Chinese in the video, without elaborating further.
The apology video triggered further anger on Chinese social media, where users denounced Cena for not stating that Taiwan was part of China. Beijing argues that democratically run Taiwan is part of its territory, and has in recent years increased diplomatic pressure on the Taipei government and other nations that recognize its legitimacy.
The apology also drew flak in the U.S., where critics — including Republicans and conservative media – slammed the star for bowing to China. Tom Cotton, a Republican senator from Arkansas, described the move as “pathetic.” (Aljazeera)