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French football star Kylian Mbappé (Kylian Mbappé), who was involved in an insult to China because he mentioned a “Chinese dictator” meme in an interview, issued a statement on Tuesday (October 27), “apologizing to everyone who was hurt by my remarks.” The meme composites his face onto an image of late Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong.
However, about 20 minutes after the statement was issued, the Chinese Football Association (Chinese Football Association) issued a document saying that it had “serious representations” with Mbappe’s Real Madrid club and demanded that the players and clubs involved “make a public and formal apology.” La Liga and the talk show “The Bridge” involved also apologized on the same day.
Prior to this, many Chinese brands such as Dongpeng Beverage and Mengniu Dairy had announced the termination of cooperation with Mbappé or a severance of ties with him on the grounds of “hurting national sentiments”. China Central Radio and Television (China Central Radio and Television) has also suspended the broadcast of match content and advertisements related to him.
A series of apologies failed to calm public opinion. Mbappe-related topics once occupied six of the top ten hot searches on Weibo, and the spokesperson of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs also expressed its position on the incident. The reason why this storm spread so quickly is inseparable from Mao Zedong’s special position in contemporary Chinese society, especially among the younger generation.
Players, programs and La Liga apologized one after another
On October 27, Mbappé’s certified
The statement was issued on the letterhead of Mbappe’s personal company Interconnected Ventures. It was released in the morning in Europe and in the evening Beijing time. After the news reached China, it immediately topped the Weibo trending search.
About 20 minutes later, the Chinese Football Association issued a statement on Weibo, saying that the association “attaches great importance” and has “conducted serious negotiations with Real Madrid Club as soon as possible and requires the players involved and Real Madrid Club to make a public and formal apology.” The statement added: “The Chinese Football Association firmly opposes any remarks that hurt the feelings of the Chinese people. Internationally renowned athletes, in particular, should strictly adhere to the bottom line, speak out rationally, and cherish their public influence.”
image source,Weibo.com/China Football Association
On the evening of the same day, La Liga simultaneously issued an apology on Weibo and X’s official account, stating that “La Liga deeply regrets the offense and harm caused to Chinese fans by Kylian Mbappe’s recent remarks. The relevant remarks are the personal expressions of the players and in no way represent the position of La Liga.” The article also stated: “We have always had deep respect for China, relevant institutions and the Chinese people, and we cherish the attention and support that millions of Chinese fans give us every week.”
“The Bridge” program apologized in a limited-time Instagram post on the same day, admitting that it had previously released relevant interview clips: “We deeply regret that this clip has offended people in China and other parts of the world.” La Liga president Javier Tebas also issued a statement later saying that he had met with the Chinese Ambassador to Spain Yao Jing to discuss the situation and seek a solution. CCTV Sports responded by “listening to his words but watching his actions”, expressing the hope that La Liga and relevant people “change their past mistakes.”
Repeated statements have had little effect among the people. In the Weibo comment area of La Liga’s apology, the most liked message was a message from a Fujian user: “Did he forget that he was born? He just hasn’t picked cotton for decades.” A user on the X platform responded: “Apologise for calling a dictator a dictator? Haha.” Under the relevant post on Sina News, a Jiangsu netizen said: “It’s not that he knows he is wrong, he knows he is afraid and there is no way to make money.” A Hebei netizen said: “If you don’t accept it, let the world know the importance of teachers in the hearts of Chinese people!”
image source,Weibo
“Memes” involving Mao Zedong
The controversy stems from an interview clip that has been widely circulated on social platforms such as Reddit, X (formerly known as Twitter) and Threads since October 26. The video shows that when Mbappe was asked on the French online talk show “The Bridge” “which of the Internet memes made with his own avatar (also known as ‘memes’ in mainland China) made you laugh the most,” he said that the funniest one was when someone combined his face onto a photo of a “Chinese dictator.” He also said that he often used this picture when playing video games with his friends.
Mbappe did not name him in his answer. However, in the post-production of the program, a picture was added that combined his face with the image of Mao Zedong, which led many viewers to believe that he was referring to Mao Zedong.
The BBC was unable to independently verify when the interview was recorded and published. The official social media accounts of “The Bridge” are no longer able to find relevant clips, and the show’s website does not provide replays.
Mbappe currently plays for Real Madrid in La Liga and serves as the captain of the French national team. He helped France win the 2018 World Cup and scored a hat trick in the 2022 World Cup final. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential and commercially valuable players in today’s football. In the Chinese market, he has also been favored by brands for a long time and has cooperated with Mengniu, Dongpeng Beverage, Xiaohongshu and other companies.
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Brand termination, official pressure
image source,Getty Images
After the interview clip continued to ferment, Dongpeng Beverage Group took the lead in issuing a statement on October 27, announcing the termination of cooperation with Mbappe, saying that the company “firmly opposes and has zero tolerance for behavior that hurts national sentiments.” Mengniu Dairy and Magic Lando subsequently announced the termination of their cooperative relationship with him.
Life-sharing platform Xiaohongshu also issued a statement opposing any words or deeds that hurt national sentiments. It also clarified that the commercial cooperation with Mbappe has ended on December 31, 2024, and that relevant promotional materials are currently being investigated and removed from the shelves. The main station stated in the afternoon of the same day that due to Mbappe’s “serious negative behavior related to China”, it has suspended the broadcast of La Liga and related content involving him from Monday, and all commercial advertisements featuring him have also been removed from the shelves.
China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs also weighed in. Spokesperson Guo Jiakun said in response to relevant questions at a regular press conference on October 27: “We have noticed relevant reports. Words and deeds that hurt the feelings of the Chinese people will naturally be boycotted by all sectors of Chinese society.”
In the field of public opinion, the editorial “Mbappé knows the feeling of being humiliated but does not understand respect” published by Beijing Time, a subsidiary of Beijing Radio and Television Station, once topped the list of hot searches. The editorial mentioned Mbappe’s experience of racial discrimination during the World Cup in July this year: At that time, Paraguay Senator Celeste Amarilla called him “a colonized Cameroonian pretending to be French, full of resentment, nouveau riche, arrogant and ugly” on the Internet. Mbappe himself and the French Football Association directly responded, calling the relevant remarks “outrageous and unacceptable.”
The editorial pointed out that the racial discrimination he suffered was similar in nature to his remarks, and he should not hurt Chinese feelings while making money from the Chinese.
In recent years, it is not uncommon for incidents that have been deemed by Chinese public opinion to have “hurt national sentiments” to result in commercial consequences. In 2021, the fast fashion brand H&M encountered large-scale boycotts in China for issuing a statement on the issue of forced labor in Xinjiang. Many maps and e-commerce platforms once removed it from the shelves, and many Chinese artists announced the termination of cooperation; the French luxury brand Dior was also involved in controversy for using a model image that some netizens called “squinty eyes” in its advertisements, and was criticized for vilifying the Chinese people. Such disputes often spread to the commercial level as online public opinion heats up.
image source,Getty Images
image source,Getty Images
“Teachers”, Information Vacuum and “Mao Zedong Fever”
On Weibo, Douyin and other platforms, many netizens are still asking: What did Mbappe say? What was the cause of the incident?
China’s largest football information platform, Dongqiudi, issued an article on the evening of October 26, saying that because the content “involves harm to China and the Chinese people,” the platform chose not to translate it. It also called on fans to discuss rationally and avoid excessive remarks. The cold treatment only intensified curiosity: some netizens who are good at circumventing the firewall found the original interview film and sold the clips on social platforms to attract curious people to pay to watch.
Among the public opinions condemning Mbappe, one voice was angry at the official narrative that “Mbappe hurt the feelings of the Chinese people” and then waved the flag; the other was a netizen who had watched the controversial video and asked, “How dare he speak about our teachers?” In the online context of Chinese young people, “teacher” is a synonym for Mao Zedong.
Therefore, the Mbappe scandal is not only a public opinion incident surrounding the star’s remarks, but also reflects Mao Zedong’s special position in contemporary Chinese society.
Although Mao Zedong has been dead for 50 years, his influence on China today is still growing, especially among young people who are active on the Internet. BBC Chinese has previously reported that Mao Zedong is experiencing a significant “resurgence” in the online culture of contemporary Chinese young people: Mao Zedong-related videos on the video platform Bilibili (Bilibili) frequently receive millions of views; “Selected Works of Mao Zedong” has ranked first in the annual borrowing list of Tsinghua University Library for many years. Mao Zedong has re-entered the daily political language of “Generation Z”.
It is worth noting that as China’s economic growth slows down and social contradictions such as employment, housing prices, and gender become increasingly prominent, Mao Zedong’s discussion of class, equality, and anti-capital dominance is regarded by some young people as a concise and powerful explanatory framework for understanding their own situation. His significance in contemporary Chinese society has long gone beyond the official historical positioning itself.
