Key takeaways:
- Mbappé said his description of a meme showing him as Mao was “ill-judged” and apologized to those he upset.
- Dongpeng Beverage, Mengniu and Milkground announced they were ending ties with Mbappé.
- La Liga apologized for the offense caused in China and said it was working with partners there.
Kylian Mbappé apologized after a resurfaced interview clip in which he appeared to call Mao Zedong a “Chinese dictator” triggered a backlash in China, prompting several brands to end partnerships with the French soccer star and Spain’s La Liga to distance itself from his comments.
“ My comment was ill-judged, and I now understand that it hurt many people in China and in Chinese communities around the world,” the Real Madrid forward said in a statement posted to social media. “I apologize to everyone my words have upset. This was absolutely not my intention. I have deep respect for the Chinese people and their history, and I am sincerely sorry.”
In the clip, from an interview with the French talk show The Bridge, Mbappé was asked about his favorite meme. He described a video featuring someone he thought was “a Chinese dictator.” The program then showed his face superimposed on an image of Mao, though Mbappé did not name the Chinese leader. The meme plays on an online joke portraying Mbappé as a dictator because of his influence in soccer.
The clip spread on Chinese social media Monday. The BBC reported that the Chinese football forum Dongqiudi had called his comments “inappropriate” and said they “hurt the feelings of Chinese people.” Some users called for a boycott of Mbappé and Real Madrid. Others asked what he had said; the BBC reported that some posts obscured the meme or the part of his remarks at issue.
On Tuesday, energy-drink company Dongpeng Beverage, dairy producer Mengniu and cheesemaker Milkground announced they were ending ties with Mbappé. Their statements did not explicitly refer to the interview. Mengniu said it had “a zero-tolerance policy towards any words or actions that hurt the feelings of the Chinese people.”
NBC News reported that social media platform Xiaohongshu also distanced itself from Mbappé, saying its contract with him had ended. A notice on his account, which had more than a million followers, said it had been suspended for violating community guidelines, NBC News reported.
China’s Foreign Ministry said remarks that hurt Chinese people’s feelings would face opposition across society. The Global Times, a state-backed newspaper, said sporting events and advertisements involving Mbappé had been suspended from broadcast. Chinese media also reported that broadcasts of La Liga matches had been halted, according to the BBC.
La Liga President Javier Tebas said the league “deeply regrets” the discomfort and offense caused in China. “We cannot allow an individual’s action to tarnish” the league’s relationship with China, he said, adding that La Liga was working with partners there to address the situation.
Mao founded the People’s Republic of China in 1949 and ruled until his death in 1976. His Great Leap Forward contributed to a famine believed to have killed tens of millions, while the Cultural Revolution brought widespread violence and upheaval. China’s ruling Communist Party acknowledges his mistakes but maintains that his achievements outweigh them.
Mbappé has previously criticized the dictator memes. In an interview cited by NBC News, he said that although they were intended as jokes, they showed “a lack of political and human awareness.”
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