John Cena: Fast and Furious star sorry over Taiwan remark backlash
WWE star John Cena has apologised to China for calling Taiwan a country.
The actor and former professional wrestling champion described Taiwan as a country in a promotional video for the latest Fast and Furious film.
The interview prompted a backlash in China, which considers self-ruling Taiwan to be part of its territory.
Mr Cena has now posted a video message on social media in which he speaks in Chinese and says sorry for his "mistake".
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The controversy began when Mr Cena said Taiwan would be the first "country" to be able to watch Fast and Furious 9, in an interview with Taiwanese broadcaster TVBS (in Chinese).
Taiwan is a self-governed island state separated from mainland China by the Taiwan Strait. Beijing opposes the suggestion Taiwan is an independent state.
On Tuesday, Mr Cena posted a video on the Chinese social media site Weibo, apologising for the "mistake".
"I made one mistake, I must say right now, very important, I love and respect Chinese people," he says, in Chinese. "I am very sorry for my mistake. I am so sorry, I apologise."
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Some comments in response to the video accused Mr Cena of not going far enough in his apology.
"Please say 'Taiwan is part of China' in Chinese, otherwise we will not accept," one Weibo user wrote.
Others were more forgiving.
One wrote: "I can feel that he really likes China... He said the wrong thing and paid the corresponding price."
Mr Cena, who stars as Jacob Moretto in the new Fast and Furious film, has a large fanbase in China and over 600,000 followers on Weibo.
The 44-year-old has been learning the Mandarin Chinese language for several years, but in the past has dismissed his abilities as "remedial".
"I've been studying Mandarin for five years and I still speak like a third grader," he told the Straits Times in 2017.
The 17-time WWE professional wrestling champion is the latest high-profile westerner to became entangled in a dispute over China's political interests.
Fashion brands including Burberry, H&M and Nike have had their online stores blocked and logos blurred on Chinese state TV in a row over claims of abuse in Xinjiang province.
China has previously pressured the Australian airline Qantas into listing Taiwan as a Chinese territory.
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The Chinese market has been of paramount importance to Hollywood for years and any controversy can ostracize a blockbuster.
That was the risk faced by 'Fast & Furious 9' after the appearance of a promotional meeting in which John Cena described Taiwan as a country , something that has led the former fighter to publish a video apologizing.The controversy in questionCena's decision is made even more surprising by the fact that he recorded the video speaking perfect Mandarin, a language he became interested in during the years he traveled around the world as a professional wrestler.
The actor has posted the video on Weibo , the Chinese equivalent of Twitter, clarifying that in one of the interviews "he made a mistake .
"The controversy is due to the fact that Cena did not identify Taiwan as part of China, as the latter country demands.
The actor makes no direct mention of this point, but notes that " I love and respect China and the Chinese " and sincerely apologize for what happened.It is difficult not to think that one of the great motivations of this apology is in the fact that the Chinese market is of capital importance for the 'Fast & Furious' franchise , since the ninth installment has raised 137 million dollars only during its first end available in theaters in thatcountry.And it is that the eighth installment went to 392 million dollars in China, two more than the seventh .
They cannot afford a boycott , especially with the uncertainty that continues to reign in the Hollywood industry.
The latest instalment in the Fast and Furious franchise has made an estimated $70m (£50m) during its first weekend on release in the US and Canada.It means Fast & Furious 9 - released as F9: The Fast Saga in North America - is the most successful film to be released since the Covid-19 pandemic began.The sequel, which had already opened in several overseas territories, has now made more than $400m (£287m) worldwide.It was one of a number of films to have their planned 2020 releases delayed.Others include the James Bond film No Time To Die, which is now scheduled for release in September.Fast & Furious 9: 'We're not just doing the same thing'Fast & Furious films to reach the end of the roadFast and Furious 9 put back by 11 monthsStarring Vin Diesel, F9 is the tenth entry in the series that began in 2001 with The Fast and the Furious.The latest instalment pits Diesel's Dominic Toretto character against his estranged criminal brother, played by John Cena.Charlize Theron, Cardi B and Dame Helen Mirren also appear in the film, some of which was shot in Edinburgh in 2019.Cena told the BBC this month the Scottish capital was a great location "to destroy" during the film's frenetic action sequences.media captionBBC Scotland's The Edit chats to Vin Diesel and John CenaFast & Furious 9 left its nearest competition for dust over a weekend that will give comfort to North America's embattled cinema owners.A Quiet Place Part II took a comparatively trifling $6.2m (£4.4m) between Friday and Sunday, taking its overall US and Canada takings to $136m (£97m).F9 opened on Thursday in the UK and Ireland, where cinemas are currently operating with social distancing measures in place.Despite these restrictions, Justin Lin's film is reported to have made more than £1m on its first day on release.Two more instalments in the series are currently planned, with Lin saying the blockbuster series "deserves an ending".
"We can't always feel like we're going to go on forever," he told the BBC.
"With the Saga, I feel like it's the right choice.
Taiwan Island’s Navy has confirmed that members of the United States Marines have officially started a training operation in Taiwan to help boost its military’s combat readiness.Read more at: https://bit.ly/2Uhayxe
