When Joe Rogan labeled John Cena's controversial apology the “darkest moment” in moviemaking: “Not apologizing for something horrible” 

Veteran UFC commentator Joe Rogan once expressed shock at John Cena's apology to the People's Republic of China, preluding the release of F9, the ninth installment of popular film franchise, Fast and Furious.

China has not recognized Taiwan as a nation, but Cena did in an interview with Taiwanese broadcaster TVBS during film promotion, receiving pushback from the communist country. As Hollywood films have a big market in China, the WWE superstar-turned-actor apologized in Mandarin.

The incident shocked UFC commentator Joe Rogan, who addressed it in #1677 of his acclaimed podcast with Tim Dillon as the guest. Rogan said:

"John Cena's apology was one of the darkest moments in movie-making because you realize that this guy's not apologizing for something that was really horrible that he did. He didn't get drunk and run into a family with his car."

"He apologized for recognizing Taiwan as a nation, and he was saying, "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry. I was really tired, I was really," and he's doing it in Mandarin. It’s wild," he added.

Dillon noted the apology was crazy, but pointed out China is the biggest market for Hollywood movies. Rogan speculated that the Chinese government has a deep-rooted interest in Hollywood, pointing out that the majority of the revenue from F9's opening weekend came from the Asian nation.

Check out Joe Rogan's comments about John Cena below (2:23:28):

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Joe Rogan and Duncan Trussell discussed John Cena's apology

Preluding the Tim Dillon episode, Joe Rogan discussed John Cena's apology to China during the episode #1666 with his friend and fellow comedian Duncan Trussell.

Trussell found the apology weird, citing it would be like finding a video of late Hollywood star John Wayne apologizing in another language. For Rogan, the apology was a warning, signaling a cultural shift, particularly as someone like John Cena, who he called an 'Alpha Male,' succumbed to China.

Rogan said:

"It is weird, but it's a warning to everybody, right? The people that don’t, aren't taking this sort of cultural shift seriously, when you see an enormous alpha male like John Cena, John Cena's arms are so big it looks like they're supposed to be a foot longer, but someone sawed them off and put, like, a fist there."

He added:

"It's like if my forearm only went down to here and then the fist was there. His wrists are enormous. He's such a gorilla, right? And to see that guy saying it in Chinese, and you read what he actually said, it's hard to say, right?"

Check out Joe Rogan's comments below (4:12):