#John Cena’s China apology proves he’s no tough guy after all

When John Cena starts making apologies to the Chinese Communist Party, you know it’s time for him to tap out.

On Tuesday, the pro wrestler and star of “F9,” the latest “Fast and Furious” flick, managed to look like a fool stuck in a bad scissor hold as he publicly confessed to thought crimes by referring to Taiwan as a country during film promo interviews.

“I made a mistake,” Cena said in Mandarin on Weibo, China’s popular social-media platform. “Now I have to say one thing which is very, very, very important: I love and respect China and Chinese people. I’m sorry for my mistake. I must say now, [it’s] very, very, very, very important [that] I love, and respect even more, China and the Chinese people.”

He didn’t even dare mention what he’d done wrong to require his mea culpa: It was saying, “Taiwan is the first country that can watch ‘F9.’ ”

Taiwan is a country — a democratic, self-ruled island nation that Bejing claims sovereignty over. But acknowledging that truth in any way peeves China’s Communist rulers, who could retaliate by blocking distribution of US films there.

So Hollywood has taken to censoring nearly all its products to keep Beijing happy, since China is a huge market, especially for big-budget action films. Heck, speaking up for China-occupied Tibet made Richard Gere a non-person in Tinseltown.

Remember this the next time any Hollywood star starts moralizing about any international issue. They only speak out when it doesn’t threaten their own profits.