Misunderstanding

A number of people have expressed disgust with professional wrestler and actor John Cena for his video apologizing for calling Taiwan a country -- spoken in Mandarin.

The problem is that the Chinese Communist Party doesn't recognize Taiwan as a country. It claims the island is a part of China, rather than the place folks went who didn't want to attend the Marxism party the CCP threw when it took over after World War II. Now, ordinarily American citizens don't have to care what the CCP wants. But Cena is in an upcoming movie (Fast and Furious 9) and the CCP controls whether or not that movie gets shown to China's billion-plus moviegoers. So cue apology.

Since Cena is quite muscular, some people have suggested the genuflection represents a clear case of a well-known side effect of certain performance-enhancing drugs. Cena has never publicly admitted using those drugs, though, so this must remain a matter for speculation. Others suggest that he was "encouraged" to film the apology in order to make certain he still had a movie career.

I personally hold to another idea: For most of the latter part of his pro wrestling career Cena has been what's called a face or babyface, pro wrestling lingo for a good guy character. Earlier on he was much more of a heel, or bad guy. My belief is that Cena has simply made a character turn and is now a no-good slimy heel who always shows disgust for the fans. Admittedly, the fans now include most of the people of the country, but then that's whom his shameful gesture insulted.

Boo. Hiss.