Actor John Cena Scolded for Using Ukraine Invasion to Promote HBO Show ‘Peacemaker’

Hollywood actor John Cena, an who infamously apologized in Mandarin calling Taiwan a country, has been taking a beating on social media for using Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to promote his HBO show Peacemaker.

“If I could somehow summon the powers of a real-life #Peacemaker I think this would be a great time to do so,” Cena tweeted.

Cena has often promoted his show Peacemaker, a character that appeared in director James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad, using the hashtag along with an emoji signifying the character’s helmet.

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Cena garnered no praise for using the international crisis as a chance to plug his show.

In May of last year, John Cena was excoriated by both the left and the right when he issued a groveling apology to China on the country’s social network Weibo (in Mandarin) for having referred to Taiwan as an independent country in a previous interview. The apology was largely interpreted as an effort to better F9‘s box office potential in the country:

Hi China, I’m John Cena. I’m in the middle of Fast and Furious 9 promotions. I’m doing a lot of interviews. I made a mistake in one of my interviews. Everyone was asking me if I could use Chinese – [movie] staff gave me a lot of information, so there was a lot of interviews and information. 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.

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Cena’s apology made little difference and F9 flopped in China after nosedived by 85 percent in its second weekend of release.

After two laps, the Vin Diesel/John Cena action flick has totaled $185.3 million. That’s slightly ahead of where franchise spinoff Hobbs & Shaw was sitting at a similar point in its China run, but far weaker than the preceding franchise mainstays Furious 7 and The Fate of the Furious,” The Hollywood Reporter (THR) noted at the time.