Wrestler and actor John Cena, 44, has been under fire ever since he appeared to promote his new HBO Max show, Peacemaker, in a tweet related to the ongoing and devastating Ukranian-Russian war. Last month, the WWE star tweeted, “If I could somehow summon the powers of a real life #Peacemaker I think this would be a great time to do so,” amid the war, suggesting that his fictional DC Comics character might impact the real-life conflict.
Ever since, fans continue to discuss this comment on Twitter and urge Cena to “apologize” and acknowledge it being “tone-deaf,” although he hasn’t yet. However, it now seems that Cena may have responded to criticism that he “didn’t do his part in raising awareness for Ukranian citizens” on his Instagram.
If I could somehow summon the powers of a real life #Peacemaker I think this would be a great time to do so.
— John Cena (@JohnCena) February 24, 2022
Last week, Cena posted a photo of Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelensky to his IG account with the words, ‘Stone Cold Zelensky’ over it and without a caption. Users in Cena’s comment section noted that this might have been Cena’s way to pay homage to the leader, as the words ‘stone cold’ relate to WWE legend Stone Cold Steve Austin. This, as some fans pointed out, might mean Cena is equating Zelensky’s “heroism” to the other wrestler’s “iconic strength.”
Just to recap, when Cena’s tweet began trending on Twitter, many fans wrote messages expressing their frustration with not only Cena’s promotional words, but more importantly, his timing. “I hope you didn’t mean to come off as disrespectful by using this to promote your show,” wrote one user, adding, “You don’t have the powers of peacemaker but you do have the power of money and status. Please donate to help Ukraine or spread the link to donate.”
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Others chimed in in agreement, urging Cena to use his platform to spread awareness and raise money for those currently struggling in the war-torn nation. More Twitter commenters added that Cena “still has time to delete this” tweet and recalled back to when he once apologized to Chinese fans after he referred to Taiwan as a “country” last spring.
“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,” he said. In a video, he said, “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,” he continued.
Fans then began reposting the video and asking the Peacemaker star to “to the same” for Ukrainian fans he might have “hurt with his insensitive tweet,” although this hasn’t happened.
