Chinese brands drop Kylian Mbappé over Mao Zedong "dictator" remark
Dongpeng, Mengniu and Milkground have ended their deals with Kylian Mbappé after a video in which he appeared to call Mao Zedong a dictator. Mbappé has apologised.
French football star Kylian Mbappé has been dropped by major Chinese brands after a video circulated online in which he appeared to joke about Mao Zedong, the founding leader of the People's Republic of China, The Guardian and Republica reported. In China, jokes about Mao remain taboo.
The beverage company Dongpeng said it was ending all cooperation with the Real Madrid forward, saying it had "a zero-tolerance policy towards any behaviour that offends national sentiments". Mengniu, China's largest dairy producer, and the cheese maker Milkground also said they were cutting ties with him, according to The Guardian. "Dongpeng Beverage ends cooperation with Mbappé" was the top-trending topic on the Chinese social media site Weibo, with 430 million views.
In the video, Mbappé says the funniest internet meme he had seen of himself was of his face photoshopped onto that of "some guy – I think he's a Chinese dictator", an apparent reference to a meme that put his face on an image of Mao.
Mbappé apologised in a statement in French, Chinese and English. "My comment was ill-judged, and I now understand that it hurt many people in China and in Chinese communities around the world," he said.
Wider repercussions
The state-run digital newspaper The Paper, citing sources at the state broadcaster, reported that CCTV had suspended all broadcasts of La Liga matches and removed advertisements involving Mbappé. The Guardian noted that this weekend's La Liga matches were still on CCTV's online viewing schedule.
China's foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun told a regular briefing that "words and actions that hurt the feelings of the Chinese people will naturally be met with unanimous rejection from all sectors of Chinese society". Spain's La Liga also apologised, saying the comments "were made in a personal capacity and do not represent La Liga".
Other sports figures have lost Chinese sponsors or faced fury in China over sensitive topics before. Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey's 2019 tweet supporting the Hong Kong protests led China to suspend sponsorship deals with the NBA and pull its games from Chinese television for a year, and former NBA player Dwight Howard drew anger on Chinese social media in 2023 for calling Taiwan a country.
Mbappé had been hugely popular among Chinese fans. "I used to really enjoy watching Mbappé play on the pitch," Zhang Jingqi, a 30-year-old mall worker in Beijing, told The Guardian. "But ever since this news broke yesterday I have lost that admiration."