The Unlikely Tale of John Cena‘s "Bing Chilling" Copypasta: Explained
Have you ever come across a block of text filled with Chinese characters, ice cream emojis, and mentions of John Cena and the Fast & Furious movies? Chances are you‘ve stumbled upon the "Bing Chilling" copypasta – one of the most widespread and recognizable copypastas in recent years. But what exactly is this cryptic wall of text, where did it come from, and how did it become so popular?
In this deep dive, we‘ll explore the origins and spread of the "Bing Chilling" copypasta, the movie promotion that inspired it, and what it reveals about meme culture and U.S.-China relations. Strap in, because this story has more twists than an acrobatic kung-fu fight scene.
What Is a Copypasta?
Before we get to John Cena and his ice cream, let‘s define our terms. A copypasta is a block of text that is copied and pasted repeatedly across the internet, usually on forums and social media. Copypastas can take many forms, from absurdist humor to pathos-laden sob stories to vitriolic rants, and often rack up thousands or even millions of shares.
Though copypastas may seem like a quintessentially internet-age phenomenon, one could argue they‘re as old as human culture itself. After all, what are commonly repeated prayers, oaths, folk tales, and urban legends but analog versions of the viral text snippets we call copypastas?
Still, there‘s no denying the internet has pushed copypastas to new heights (or depths) of ubiquity and weirdness. Classic copypastas like the Navy Seal rant, Bee Movie script, and "Looks like you‘ve been doing some homework" have been reposted ad nauseum, spawning countless remixes along the way.
The "Bing Chilling" copypasta is a more recent entry in this pantheon of infamous text blocks, but no less iconic. Its spread was rapid, its impact surprising, and its backstory a revealing glimpse into the cultural cross-currents of the social media age.
The Fateful Fast & Furious 9 Promotion
The "Bing Chilling" copypasta can be traced back to a May 2021 video John Cena posted to the Chinese social media site Weibo. In the 37-second clip, Cena, speaking in Mandarin, raves about the newest installment in the Fast & Furious franchise while snacking on an ice cream cone.
"Good morning China!" Cena begins, before launching into a heavily accented Mandarin spiel. "Now I have ice cream. I really like ice cream. But Fast & Furious 9 is better than ice cream!"
Cena goes on to pump up the film‘s imminent China release, imploring viewers, "Don‘t forget, don‘t miss it, go to the movies to watch Fast & Furious 9 because it‘s a great movie. The action is great, almost as good as ice cream. Goodbye!"
To Western audiences, the promo came across as charmingly cheesy at best and cringeworthy pandering at worst. But the Chinese internet mostly ate it up, praising Cena‘s enthusiastic delivery and game attempt to connect with his fans there.
Little did Cena know his innocent pitch for an action flick and frozen dessert would soon take on a bizarre life of its own.
The Birth of the Copypasta
Shortly after Cena‘s video hit Weibo, net denizens began transcribing and spreading the dialogue. The original Chinese version spread on Weibo and WeChat:
"早上好, 中国 现在我有冰淇淋 我很喜欢冰淇淋 但是 《速度与激情9》 比冰淇淋 《速度与激-》 《速度与激情9》 我最喜欢 所以现在是 音乐时间 准备 一 二 三 两个礼拜以后 《速度与激情9》 两个礼拜以后 《速度与激情9》 两个礼拜以后 《速度与激情9》 不要忘记 不要错过 去电影院 看《速度与激情9》 因为非常好电影 动作非常好 差不多一样"冰激淋" 再见"
But the copypasta really took off once English speakers got their hands on it. A translation, liberally peppered with emojis, began proliferating on Western social media:
"Zǎoshang hǎo zhōngguó xiànzài wǒ yǒu BING CHILLING 🥶🍦 wǒ hěn xǐhuān BING CHILLING 🥶🍦 dànshì sùdù yǔ jīqíng 9 bǐ BING CHILLING 🥶🍦 sùdù yǔ jīqíng sùdù yǔ jīqíng 9 wǒ zuì xǐhuān suǒyǐ…xiànzài shì yīnyuè shíjiān zhǔnbèi 1 2 3 liǎng gè lǐbài yǐhòu sùdù yǔ jīqíng 9 ×3 bùyào wàngjì bùyào cu òguò jìdé qù diànyǐngyuàn kàn sùdù yǔ jīqíng 9 yīn wéi fēicháng hǎo diànyǐng dòngzuò fēicháng hǎo chàbùduō yīyàng BING CHILLING 🥶🍦zàijiàn 🥶🍦"
The mangled machine translation, complete with pinyin Romanization of the Chinese, added an extra layer of surreal humor for Anglophone audiences. Stripped of context, lines like "BING CHILLING 🥶🍦" read as delightfully nonsensical.
Soon, riffs on the copypasta incorporating other memes began popping up. One popular version mashed up the "Bing Chilling" spiel with the "Super Idol" copypasta, another Chinese meme featuring lyrics from a saccharine pop song.
Another variant tacked on a list of censored terms and topics in China, turning Cena‘s innocent promo into an ironic indictment of the Chinese government‘s authoritarianism:
"动态网自由门 天安門 天安门 法輪功 李洪志 Free Tibet 六四天安門事件 The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 天安門大屠殺 The Tiananmen Square Massacre 反右派鬥爭 The Anti-Rightist Struggle 大躍進政策 The Great Leap Forward 文化大革命 The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution 人權 Human Rights 民運 Democratization 自由 Freedom 獨立…"
The Apology Video Adds Fuel to the Fire
Mere days after Cena‘s Fast & Furious promo, another video of his was making the rounds for very different reasons. During a press interview for the film, Cena referred to Taiwan as "a country" – a big no-no for celebrities looking to make it in the China market.
Cena quickly recorded a groveling apology video in Mandarin, walking back his statement and affirming his respect for Chinese sovereignty:
"I made a mistake. I must say now that, very very very importantly, I love and respect China and Chinese people. I‘m very, very sorry for my mistake. I‘m sorry, I‘m sorry, I‘m very sorry."
For many Western observers, Cena‘s about-face laid bare the tightrope that Hollywood and other US industries must walk when dealing with China. The debacle highlighted the Chinese government‘s hair-trigger sensitivity over Taiwan while also showing the lengths American celebrities will go to avoid alienating the lucrative Chinese market.
Predictably, Cena‘s apology video poured gasoline on the "Bing Chilling" copypasta fire. Pranksters edited the audio from his apology into the ice cream clip, creating a humorous dissonance between the upbeat promo and grim backpedaling.
Others used the copypasta to take digs at Cena himself, painting him as a shill willing to debase himself for that sweet Chinese box office cash. As one Redditor quipped, "He‘s not ‘Bing Chilling‘, he‘s ‘Bing Shilling‘".
The Staying Power of "Bing Chilling"
In the fast-moving world of memes, most copypastas flare up and fizzle out in a matter of days or weeks. The "Bing Chilling" copypasta, however, has shown remarkable endurance, still popping up regularly more than a year after its inception.
What accounts for its staying power? For one, the sheer oddity of its origins. A beefy American pro wrestler shilling for a blockbuster franchise while snarfing an ice cream cone in heavily accented Chinese is just too weird of a cultural collision to ignore. The cognitive dissonance is a big part of the copypasta‘s appeal.
Additionally, the copypasta‘s ties to the fraught topic of U.S.-China relations give it a geopolitical resonance that most silly internet ephemera lack. Cena‘s follow-up apology video only deepened that subtext, making the "Bing Chilling" copypasta a sort of Rorschach blot for stances on everything from the Chinese government‘s human rights abuses to the compromises of cultural globalization.
It also helps that John Cena himself is a widely beloved figure, first as a WWE icon and now as a bankable star of family-friendly blockbusters. The cognitive dissonance of seeing this All-American beefcake shucking and jiving for the Chinese market is what launched a thousand "Bing Chilling" memes.
But perhaps most importantly, the "Bing Chilling" copypasta is just really, really funny. The enthusiasm, the broken English, the baffling fixation on frozen dairy – it hits that sweet spot of sheer ludicrousness that defines the best copypastas and memes.
Lessons from a Master Meme
So what can we take away from the long, strange journey of the "Bing Chilling" copypasta? For one, it‘s a reminder of the simple power of absurdist humor in our era of information overload and geopolitical stress. Sometimes, a silly non-sequitur is what‘s needed to cut through the noise.
The spread of the "Bing Chilling" meme is also a case study in the global, cross-cultural nature of internet discourse. A promo recorded for Chinese audiences gets repurposed and remixed into oblivion by mostly American net dwellers, many of whom likely know nothing about its original context. Memes, it seems, transcend borders as easily as any virus.
But the "Bing Chilling" saga also offers a glimpse into more troubling realities of our hyperconnected media landscape. An American celebrity‘s attempt to appease Chinese censors spotlights the complicated cultural compromises that can arise as Western media giants seek access to the massive Chinese market.
These are heavy topics to heap on an ice cream copypasta. But that‘s the beauty of a truly great meme – it works on multiple levels, from dumb visual gag to witty cultural commentary to accidental geopolitical critique. They become funhouse mirrors for our collective hopes, hangups, and hypocrisies.
So the next time the "Bing Chilling" copypasta graces your screen, take a moment to savor the improbable cultural alchemy that birthed this bizarre block of text. Marvel at the tangled global forces it embodies and lampoons. And then let yourself laugh at its perfect absurdity, as cold and sweet as that ice cream cone clasped in John Cena‘s mighty hand. After all, in trying times, we could all use a little "Bing Chilling" ourselves.
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