The U.S. Senators from Florida weighed in Tuesday on Cena’s decision to walk back comments about Taiwan being a nation.
“A world where #China’s Communist Party controls what Americans can say isn’t some nightmarish future threat. It’s already here,” warned Rubio in a Tweet.
“Insane. Instead of kowtowing to the Communist Party of China — how about we stand up for our democratic ally Taiwan as they face increasing threats and aggression from General Secretary Xi?” Scott wrote Tuesday, also on Twitter.
Cena was promoting the ninth movie in the Fast and the Furious series when he said, to his eventual chagrin, that Taiwan was sovereign.
John Cena apologized in Chinese on Sina Weibo after calling Taiwan a country during an interview promoting Fast & Furious 9 pic.twitter.com/dzRKIYgEzL
— Joe Yizhou Xu (@JoeXu) May 24, 2021
“I made a mistake. I must say now that, very very very importantly, I love and respect China and Chinese people,” Cena said in Chinese in a video for the market, as reported by Bloomberg.
Scott’s condemnation aligns with that of other national Republicans who decided to lay the smackdown on the durable wrestling star, who was the quintessential white-meat babyface for the federation, who could not be turned heel because his merchandise moved so well with younger fans.
As a sign of how respected he is, and his particular place in the locker room, Cena has been used to message on topics ancillary to the larger business, including delivering the news to a live crowd that Osama bin Laden was killed by U.S. forces a decade ago.
Despite Cena’s place in the WWE universe, the Senators seem intent on making an example out of the sports entertainer.
Given the scripted nature of professional wrestling, a generally predetermined artform, it is uncertain if Cena will respond, or whether that response will be in character or not. We will update if warranted.
This article first appeared at Florida Politics.
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This article appears in May 20-26, 2021.
