China has said it takes “seriously” an apology issued by Real Madrid star Kylian Mbappe after remarks he made joking about Mao Zedong triggered widespread backlash on social media and led to Spanish football being removed from state television broadcasts.
Mockery of Mao, the former Chinese leader whom historians hold responsible for millions of deaths, is considered taboo in China. Mbappe’s comments have made him the latest foreign sports personality to face criticism in the country.
In a video interview with French programme The Bridge, which has since been taken down, Mbappe said he found an internet meme amusing after his face was edited onto the image of “some guy, think he’s a Chinese dictator”, apparently referring to Mao.
“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 in a statement released in French, Chinese and English on Tuesday.
Speaking at a regular briefing on Wednesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said, “We take seriously the apology the individual concerned has made.”
La Liga, whose matches have been suspended from broadcast in China, said it “deeply regrets the offence that Kylian Mbappe’s recent comments have caused among Chinese fans”.
However, the controversy may have further consequences for the football star.
Chinese beverage company Dongpeng, which used AI-generated images of Mbappe in advertisements during this year’s World Cup, announced on Tuesday that it had ended its partnership with the player. Dairy companies Mengniu and Milkground also reportedly terminated their relationships with him.
China Media Group (CMG), which supervises public broadcaster CCTV, said it had decided to halt broadcasts of La Liga, described as the world’s second-richest football league after England’s Premier League.
Real Madrid has also faced criticism for not issuing a public apology over the incident. The phrase “How much longer will arrogant Real Madrid keep playing ostrich” ranked fifth among searches on Chinese search engine Baidu on Wednesday.
In an editorial, the state-run Global Times said Real Madrid had “neither criticised nor warned Mbappe over his conduct, let alone imposed any disciplinary measures”.
Mbappe, 27, continued to face intense criticism from Chinese social media users on Wednesday, including some racist comments.
“His remarks were hurtful toward China and the Chinese people, so they cannot be translated,” one user wrote on the social media platform Weibo.
The original joke about Mao was not reposted on China’s tightly controlled social media platforms, or had been removed from circulation.
Meanwhile, Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu suspended Mbappe’s account, which has more than one million followers. His Weibo account was also restricted, with a notice stating that “the user has been banned from following due to violating laws or the Weibo Community Convention”.
Some Chinese media reports also claimed that international brands, including Dior and Hublot, had removed content featuring Mbappe from their Weibo pages.
An AFP search of Dior and Hublot’s Weibo pages using Mbappe’s Chinese name returned no results.
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