The Late Show with Stephen Colbert mocked Fast & Furious 9 star John Cena after he apologized to China for calling Taiwan a country, spoofing Cena with a “full” apology video.
Cena came under heavy fire this week after posting a video to China’s Weibo apologizing to China after calling Taiwan a country, making what he described as a “mistake” during an interview promoting his upcoming movie Fast & Furious 9.
“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 said.
On Wednesday, the Late Show spoofed his apology, releasing the “full” apology video. “A Late Show has acquired the full apology,” the screen read before showing the full faux interpretation of Cena’s apology delivered in Mandarin.
“Hello China. This is John Cena. I wrongly said Taiwan is a country. Wrongly, wrongly, wrongly. Not only is Taiwan not a country, it is also not even a real place. It’s like Zootopia, which coincidentally made $220 million in China,” the mocking transcription read.
“And don’t even get me started on Tibet! Always complaining, complaining, complaining about China. I will give Tibet something to complain about,” it continued, cutting to a video of the WWE star body slamming the Dalai Lama.
“I call that a ‘Daili-Slam-A,” the fake transcription said.
Watch below:
A wave of Twitter users criticized Cena for bowing to China. His cowardice even caught the attention of Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), who said Cena’s apology showcases how deep Hollywood is in China’s pocket.
“It’s very disappointing,” Cotton said during a Wednesday appearance on America’s Newsroom. “It’s just one more example of how the China lobby in American society continues to try to lobby for China’s interests against America’s interests. You know, Hollywood is deep in China’s pocket. When was the last time you saw a Chinese bad guy in a movie, unlike, say, the Soviets? That’s because Hollywood wants access to the Chinese market and to Chinese money.”
“But it’s almost everywhere in society … university presidents come and lobby us all the time because they want more full-freight tuition paying Chinese nationals to come to their country,” he continued. “So many companies like hotel companies or airline companies refuse to list Taiwan in their dropdown menu because of Chinese pressure.”
Cotton categorized Cena’s apology as “just one more disappointing example of how the China lobby bends American policy in China’s favor.”
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