‘Fast & Furious’ Star John Cena Slammed as ‘Ultimate Coward’ ‘John Xina’ for Apologizing to China over Taiwan Comment
Freedom-loving Twitter users everywhere came off the top rope on Tuesday to deliver the social media version of an atomic elbow to actor and former WWE star John Cena, after he apologized to China for calling Taiwan a country while promoting his upcoming film “F9.”
Cena took to the Chinese social media site Weibo to apologize – in Mandarin -for calling Taiwan a country. China, an expected large market for “F9” and a country that views Taiwan as a part of their country, reacted badly.
“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,” Cena explained.
The beatdown got so extreme that “John Xina” became a thing on Twitter:
Senator Tom Cotton kept his response to Cena’s kowtow was brief but strong:
Even liberals were appalled by Cena’s apology:
Of course, it wasn’t just the left who were letting their thoughts be known:
It’s unknown what potential damage Cena’s apology could cause to ticket sales for his movie in America. It’s also unknown if Cena or any Hollywood executive cares.
Ben Shapiro: China Isn't Winning. The West Is Forfeiting
By Ben Shapiro | May 26, 2021 | 11:47am EDT
This week, The Wall Street Journal reported that three researchers from the Chinese Wuhan Institute of Virology were hospitalized in November 2019 with "symptoms consistent with both COVID-19 and common seasonal illness." That report followed hard on a series of investigative pieces from journalists such as Nicholas Wade and Donald McNeil, formerly of The New York Times, who revived the media-dismissed theory that the institute had generated COVID-19 in a laboratory and then accidentally allowed it to leak.
"The argument that it could have leaked out of the Wuhan Institute of Virology or a sister lab in Wuhan has become considerably stronger," McNeil wrote. "And China's lack of candor is disturbing."
It now seems highly credible that COVID-19 originated inside a Chinese state laboratory — and that China knew about it as early as November. In mid-January, the World Health Organization reported, based on Chinese information, that "Preliminary investigations conducted by the Chinese authorities have found no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of the novel #coronavirus." China censured its own Dr. Li Wenliang for attempting to spread the news of COVID-19's danger. It took until the end of January for China to lock down Wuhan.
We'll never know the answers to those questions, because the same WHO that covered for China in the early days of the pandemic is responsible for investigating Chinese malfeasance today. And President Biden's administration seems happy to keep it that way. Asked about whether America would lead an independent investigation into COVID-19's Chinese origins, White House press secretary Jen Psaki stated, "We have repeatedly called for the WHO to support an expert-driven evaluation of the pandemic's origins that is free from interference and politicization."
Meanwhile, this week, actor John Cena apologized to the Chinese government. Cena, who stars in the upcoming "F9," was being interviewed by a Taiwanese television station and committed the grave offense of stating that "Taiwan is the first country that can watch" the movie. China, of course, sees Taiwan as an outlying territory of China and denies Taiwanese sovereignty. So, Cena, whose film has already grossed over $100 million in China, quickly issued an apology in Mandarin, saying: "I made a mistake. Now I have to say one thing which is very, very, very important: I love and respect China and the Chinese people."
The common thread here is a Western unwillingness to face down China's authoritarian regime. For some on the left, challenging China means standing up for Western values like democracy and human rights — and this, in turn, raises questions about America's own commitment to those principles. For some in corporate America, capitalism hasn't opened China but made the West more dependent on mercantilist Beijing.
"We're in competition with China and other countries to win the 21st century," Biden said in his recent quasi-State of the Union address. "We're at a great inflection point in history."
China's possible unwitting release of COVID-19 and its fully documented cover-up is a unique opportunity to recalibrate the West's relationship with China. But there seems to be little taste for that necessary recalibration from a wavering Europe and United States.
Meanwhile, China isn't wavering. China grows increasingly aggressive: through its Belt-and-Road Initiative, its militaristic advances in the South China Sea, and its international ties with European countries happy to make concessions. China doesn't have to defeat the United States. All it has to do is outlast us. And right now, thanks to an ugly combination of hesitancy, cowardice, and corruption, China seems well-positioned to do so.
Ben Shapiro, 36, is a graduate of UCLA and Harvard Law School, host of "The Ben Shapiro Show" and editor-in-chief of DailyWire.com. He is the author of the New York Times bestsellers "How to Destroy America in Three Easy Steps," "The Right Side of History" and "Bullies."
John Cena Apologizes for Calling Taiwan a Country After His Film Made $137 Million in China
Actor and professional wrestler John Cena apologized for referring to Taiwan as a country after his film grossed record sales in China over the weekend.
Cena, who is promoting the release of his movie Fast & Furious 9, faced uproar from Chinese audiences after he told a Taiwanese broadcaster that Taiwan was "the first country that can watch" the film. After the movie opened in China this weekend—earning $137 million, a record for China since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic—Cena posted a video on Tuesday to the Chinese social media website Weibo apologizing for his "mistake" of calling Taiwan a country.
"I made one mistake," Cena said in Mandarin. "I love and respect China and Chinese people. I’m very, very sorry about my mistake. I apologise, I apologise, I’m very sorry. You must understand that I really love, really respect China and the Chinese people."
Taiwan has maintained political independence from China since 1949 and is led by a pro-American, democratic, and anti-communist government. China maintains that Taiwan is a sovereign territory of China, and Chinese president Xi Jinping has pledged his ambition to retake Taiwan. U.S. military leaders have warned an invasion of the country by China could occur within the next six years.
Rep. Mike Gallagher (R., Wis.) blasted Cena for joining the growing list of celebrities who "sell their souls" to China.
"Cena, like Lebron, bends the knee to Xi. Yet another example of how many of the people who engineer our popular culture, often while lecturing us about how evil America is, are the first to sell their souls to the Chinese Communist Party," Gallagher said.
The professional wrestler is not the first Hollywood figure to try to satisfy Chinese audiences' political convictions. In 2019, Paramount Pictures Altered the Top Gun sequel to censor Japanese and Taiwanese flags that appeared on the jacket of Hollywood star Tom Cruise. Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) called the decision a move to "appease" China at the time. In 2012, Red Dawn, a remake of the 1984 anti-Soviet film of the same name, changed the enemy in the film from China to North Korea in post-production, fearing blowback from the Chinese market.
The film industry’s ties to China are significant and often come with political implications. In December, the President Joe Biden considered former DreamWorks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg and former Disney CEO Bob Iger for his nomination to become ambassador to China. Katzenberg and Iger, both Hollywood megadonors, have extensive ties to Chinese business.
Chinese Propaganda Outlet Paid Millions to American Newspapers and Magazines, Records Show
China Daily pays to place interviews with pro-China Quincy Institute scholar
A news agency controlled by the Chinese Communist Party paid millions of dollars to American newspapers and magazines over the past six months, even as U.S. officials have sounded the alarm on Beijing's propaganda activities.
China Daily paid more than $1.6 million for advertising campaigns in Time magazine, the Los Angeles Times, Financial Times, and Foreign Policy magazine, according to disclosures filed with the Justice Department. The Beijing-controlled news agency paid another $1 million to American newspapers, including the L.A. Times, Chicago Tribune, and Houston Chronicle, to print copies of its own publications.
U.S. officials have increasingly drawn attention to CCP propaganda campaigns in the West. The Justice Department requires several Chinese news companies, including China Daily, to disclose their activities under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. Officials have also warned that CCP-affiliated groups have hosted events with American think tanks and educational institutions in an attempt to boost their influence in the West.
Several American newspapers have come under fire for publishing China Daily inserts entitled "China Watch." Though designed to look like normal newspaper stories, the inserts contain articles that portray the Chinese government and life in China in a positive light.
The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post have all severed ties in recent years with China Daily amid complaints that they were publishing CCP propaganda. The Times purged hundreds of China Daily advertorials from its website last year because of concerns about working with state-run media.
China Daily increased its advertising spending by more than 36 percent over the past six months, from nearly $3.3 million to more than $4.5 million, according to its latest foreign agent disclosure.
Time magazine took in $700,000 for advertising, while the Los Angeles Times received $272,000. Foreign Policy and Financial Times received $291,000 and $371,577, respectively. The Globe and Mail, a Canadian newspaper, raked in $329,898 for advertising.
Time appears to be a new China Daily client. The magazine's website features articles from China Daily with the disclosure "paid partner content," though without any mention of its affiliation with the Chinese government.
Its most recent partner content is an interview with Charles Freeman, a U.S. diplomat affiliated with the isolationist Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, a controversial foreign policy think tank supported by billionaires Charles Koch and George Soros. Freeman has blamed the so-called Israel lobby for blocking his appointment to lead the National Intelligence Council during the Obama administration.
In the China Daily article, Freeman discusses his work as chief interpreter for President Richard Nixon during his first visit to China in 1972. Freeman praises what he says is China's rapid modernization since the Nixon visit, saying, "I knew China would change, but I never imagined how much and how fast it has changed."
Quincy Institute scholars have defended the Chinese government against allegations that it has committed genocide against Muslim minority groups in Western China.
Many of the newspapers working with China Daily face severe financial problems. The Los Angeles Times furloughed workers last year as advertising revenue cratered during the coronavirus pandemic. Papers like the Chicago Tribune and Boston Globe have failed to turn a profit for years.
China Daily paid $89,700 to the Los Angeles Times for printing services and $164,000 in all to the Chicago Tribune, Houston Chronicle, and Boston Globe.
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