John Cena Reflects On Getting In Trouble For Calling Taiwan a Country In Chinese, Apology Backlash

John Cena found himself in international hot water over calling Taiwan a country in Chinese a few years back, something he recently recalled in detail on the Joe Rogan Experience. As a reminder, Cena found himself in trouble on the F9: The Fast Saga press tour. He said in a promotional clip that Taiwan would be “the first country to watch the film.”

That caused heavy backlash in China, as China considers Taiwan to be part of its country. Taiwan has been governed independently from China since 1949, and its status is very much a hot-button issue in the country. Cena apologized for the situation, which caused further backlash in the US.

The WWE star reflected on the matter in his appearance on Rogan’s show. He explained the situation and how it came about in part because he was trying to speak in Mandarin Chinese. He was given his promotional rolls in pinyin, the phonetic guide to Chinese. Cena noted that he is not knowledgeable enough on the geopolitical situation and said the matter was his fault. He said out that it was a particular problem because of his saying it in Chinese, and further noted that his apology was also a mistake. He noted that he does not try to speak other languages on international promotional tours because he realizes he may say something in a way that offends the local community. You can see the full highlights below:

On How the Situation Unfolded:

“So man, I got put in a bit of a hot spot. I made a pact to myself when I was like, ‘Okay, I feel fluent.’ We would do these global press tours, and I just happened to be on a global press tour. And I’m like, ‘You know what? I’m going to do 70% of my media in Mandarin,’ like, in dialogue. And I’ve got to say, I did it. I went over there, spoke, people were taking off the translator headphones. Life was good, everything was great. And at the very end of the day, as with all these press tours, you do a bunch of [tele]prompter reads. So I’m doing prompter reads for everywhere. And it’s like, ‘Hey, go this place and see this movie. Go this place and see this movie.’ And my bad, I didn’t check the reads, because it’s like an end of a 10-hour day. You do a million of these things. And one of them said like, ‘Hey, Taiwan, see this–‘ And it was all in Mandarin. And the pinyin described Taiwan as a country. So, ‘Be the first country to see this.’

“Now over there, they look through a different lens. Like, geopolitics are murky waters, man. And that’s what when I learned. I just said it, left, everybody was cool. I did my thing, I read the prompt… So I’m like, ‘Man, good job, John. You you did 70% and people understood what you were talking about.’ And then they put that out and everybody was like, ‘What the f**k did you just say? That’s not how we do it over here.’ And it was a it it was a pretty tense moment for me. I had to apologize to China. Ended up apologizing to China. I pissed off my home country. I’m a patriot, I love the United States of America and everything it stands for. But like no one — it was never enough. Nobody was happy. Everybody was f**ked up. And it was murky waters for me personally, and it was weird. I think I might have been the only guy almost to get canceled for doing his homework. Like, for trying to learn and try to do something.”

On Taiwan Having a Different Name In China:

“Man, I know what I read in the thing. So that’s — again, I don’t know enough depth to know that. And now people [are] like, ‘Oh man, can you speak Mandarin for this?’ I just won’t do it. It’s a skill that I have, but it’s a skill that’s going to remain with me because I don’t understand. I don’t have the depth of field to know what to call that place in that region of the world. And I haven’t done enough research, and I don’t have the wisdom and I don’t have like the the cultural fluency.

“It was a cool lesson. It sucked, because I thought I was just trying to do something good. But it was it was a cool lesson.”

On How Serious It Was:

“Man, I thought — like I was filming Peacemaker season one. And when they came out with all of this stuff, I went directly to James Gunn and was like, ‘Hey man, if you have to fire me, I understand.’ It was that serious.”

“When you do these press tours — if I’m doing a movie for Warner Brothers. Let’s use Peacemaker as an example. I’m doing a global Peacemaker tour and we go into China, or we go into South America. You meet the PR person there, and they have all the stuff you’re supposed to do. And they curate your experience, and they hold your hand. They’re like, ‘Okay, now we’re going to go to this station.’ Then, ‘By the way, they just want you to do some shoutouts.’ So anytime I go anywhere globally now? As much as I want to thank fans for their attention and investing in the product, I really shy away from speaking the language. Because I don’t understand the cultural nuance. I just want to be like, ‘Yo, thanks for watching what we do, and I love the fact that you’re entertained. But I want to speak to you at a level that I understand, that I’m fluent. Because you’re boots on the ground here every day, and I might say something that’s a nice gesture but completely f**king offend you.’ And that’s that’s not good. That’s not good for anybody.”

On Taking Ownership Of It:

“I do appreciate you saying like, ‘It’s not your fault.’ That’s not true. It was my fault. And I think that’s when I can start to work on like, ‘Well, what did I learn from this?’ And I could easily blame a PR, an assistant. I could say somebody had a target on my back. All that stuff. I f**ked up.”

On the Language He Used Being a Big Part Of It:

“[I said it] in Chinese though. Those are murky waters to begin with. I’m not even thoroughly fluent on the US policy. I think it’s like, a territorial ambiguity or some s**t like that. It’s so weird, and it’s so fragile. I got into some water I shouldn’t have been swimming in. But that’s on me. It was my fault. And I think that’s important for me to bear the burden of that and be like, ‘Yo, how can I course correct? What did I learn? Who do I really really genuinely have to apologize for offending?'”

On the Backlash In the US For His Apology:

“The biggest thing that was a kick to the nuts is when people stateside got pissed off [when he apologized]. Yes, in Chinese. And I understand it. I mean, completely like, bowing down to the demand of this. Gosh, what a what a s**tty move by me. I just should have taken a breath.

“Again, what did I learn? Don’t be reactive. Take a breath, find out what’s going on. Find out the best path of action. Maybe give it a few days, maybe give it a hot second and then move forward. But immediately I was like, ‘Oh, they’re mad? You want us to do this? Fine, no problem. I’ll fix it right now.’ Man, not only did I not try to fix the hole in the boat, I sunk the Titanic. But again, it was a learning experience.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Joe Rogan Experience with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.