John Cena expresses regret over his China-Taiwan controversy to Joe Rogan, says 'I pissed off my home country'
Star wrestler and actor John Cena recalled to Joe Rogan Friday how he upset China in 2021 by referring to Taiwan as a country and, in turn, upset America with his Mandarin-language apology, calling it a difficult learning experience.
As American franchises increasingly cater to international audiences like China, Cena recounted a hard lesson to the podcaster, saying, "Just because you know the language doesn’t mean you know the culture."
Amid an effort to spread pro wrestling to foreign countries, Cena recalled doing prompter reads in Mandarin.
"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 [Chinese phonetic language using Latin alphabet] 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.
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"It was like a Ron Burgundy moment," Cena said, referring to a famous gag from the comedy "Anchorman" in which Will Ferrell's character mindlessly reads offensive rhetoric from the teleprompter. "Like ‘Go f--- yourself, San Diego.' It was like the most offensive thing you could say.
"Everybody was like, ‘What the f--- did you just say?'" he recalled. "'That’s not how we do it over here.'
"I had to apologize to China, and in 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----- up," he said.
He went on to quip that he felt like he had been nearly canceled for doing the homework of trying to learn another language, and now he won't even speak Mandarin when asked.
"I just won't do it," he said. "It's a skill that I have, but it's a skill that's going to remain with me because it's — 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."
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When Rogan asked whether this incident truly was such a big deal at the time, Cena recalled filming the first season of "Peacemaker" at the time and telling director James Gunn he understood if he needed to be fired.
"The biggest thing that was a kick to the nuts is when, like, people stateside got pissed off," he said.
He added he could understand why the apology he made in Mandarin was controversial because critics viewed it as Hollywood kissing China's ring.
"What a s----y move by me," he said, learning that it would have been better for him to wait before being so reactive. "Not only did I not try to fix the hole in the boat, I sunk the Titanic. But, again, it was a learning experience."
