BEIJING (The Thursday Times) — China said on Wednesday it “takes seriously” Kylian Mbappe’s apology for a joke about Mao Zedong, after the remark cost the Real Madrid star three Chinese sponsors and got Spain’s La Liga pulled off Chinese state television.
“We take seriously the apology the individual concerned has made,” foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told a regular briefing in Beijing, AFP reported.
One meme, three sponsors
In a since-deleted clip from an interview with the French show The Bridge, Mbappe laughed about an internet meme that put his face on “some guy, think he’s a Chinese dictator”, an apparent reference to Mao. Mocking the founder of the People’s Republic, blamed by historians for millions of deaths, is taboo in China.
Beverage giant Dongpeng, which ran AI-generated adverts featuring Mbappe during this year’s World Cup, ended its partnership with him, as did dairy firms Mengniu and Milkground. China Media Group suspended broadcasts of La Liga, the world’s second-richest league, and Mbappe’s accounts on Weibo and Xiaohongshu, where he has more than a million followers, were frozen.
“My comment was ill-judged and I now understand that it hurt many people in China and in Chinese communities around the world. I apologise to everyone my words have upset,” the France captain said on Tuesday in French, Chinese and English. La Liga said it “deeply regrets the offence” caused to Chinese fans.
An old pattern
Mbappe, nicknamed “Guigui”, or turtle, by Chinese fans, has long been one of the most popular foreign athletes in the country. He is the latest sports figure to run into Beijing’s red lines: in 2019, China pulled NBA games off state television for a year after a Houston Rockets executive tweeted support for Hong Kong’s protesters.
