John Cena opened up to Joe Rogan about the massive backlash he faced following his 2021 controversy involving Taiwan, revealing that he offered to leave the cast of his hit show Peacemaker to avoid sinking the production.
Cena explained that his study of Mandarin began years prior as a way to expand WWE’s reach.
“I studied Mandarin for a decade… I lived in China for a little bit. I filmed a movie with Jackie Chan, so I was there for six or seven months. We were in Inner Mongolia, Yinchuan province,” Cena said. “I figured if one of our superstars spoke the language, maybe that would help break down the barrier.”
During a promotional tour for Fast & Furious 9, Cena referred to Taiwan as a country while speaking in Mandarin, reading from a script prepared by the film’s team.
“I made a pact to myself… I’m going to do 70% of my media in Mandarin,” Cena explained. “At the very end of the day… you do a bunch of prompter reads… The people that made the movie wrote it. One of them said, ‘Taiwan… be the first country to see this.’ It was all in Mandarin… I didn’t check the reads… I read the prompt. It’s like a Ron Burgundy moment.”
The statement caused outrage in China, leading Cena to issue an apology in Mandarin, which then caused outrage in the United States.
“My takeaway… was a pretty tense moment for me. I had to apologize to China, and in apologizing to China, I pissed off my home country,” Cena said. “I’m a patriot. I love the United States of America and everything it stands for. But no one, it was never enough. Nobody was happy. Everybody was fucked up… I think I might have been the only guy almost to get canceled for doing his homework.”
Cena revealed he immediately approached director James Gunn regarding his role in the DC series Peacemaker.
“I was filming Peacemaker Season 1, 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,'” Cena recalled. “Not only did I not try to fix the hole in the boat, I sunk the Titanic.”
Despite his fluency, Cena told Rogan he will no longer speak the language publicly during tours.
“Now… people are like, ‘Can you speak Mandarin for this?’ I just won’t do it… I don’t understand the cultural nuance,” Cena said. “I might say something that’s a nice gesture, but completely fucking offend you.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit The Joe Rogan Experience with an h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
