China said it has taken an apology from Real Madrid superstar Kylian Mbappe seriously after comments he made poking fun at Mao Zedong caused a social media storm and saw Spanish football yanked off state TV.
Mocking former leader Mao — blamed by historians for millions of deaths — is taboo in China and the French player’s remarks saw him become the latest foreign sports figure to anger Beijing.
The clip of the video interview with French show The Bridge — since taken down — saw Mbappe talk about being amused by an internet meme of his face digitally altered onto “some guy, think he’s a Chinese dictator”, an apparent reference 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 in French, Chinese and English on Tuesday.
Foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told a regular briefing on Wednesday: “We take seriously the apology the individual concerned has made.”
But that may not be the end of the matter.
La Liga, which has seen the broadcast of its matches suspended in China, said it “deeply regrets the offence that Kylian Mbappe’s recent comments have caused among Chinese fans”.
CMG, which oversees public broadcaster CCTV, said it had decided to suspend broadcasts of the world’s second-richest football league after England’s Premier League.
The 27-year-old continued to face a torrent of criticism from Chinese web users on Wednesday, some of it racist.
“His remarks were hurtful toward China and the Chinese people, so they cannot be translated,” wrote one user on social media platform Weibo.
Mbappe’s original joke about Mao was not reposted — or had been scrubbed — from China’s tightly controlled social media.
Chinese social media app Xiaohongshu had meanwhile frozen Mbappe’s account, where he has more than a million followers.
The same was done on the Weibo app, 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 said global brands like Dior and Hublot had removed their Mbappe-related content on Weibo.
An AFP search on Dior and Hublot’s Weibo page with Mbappe’s Chinese name produced no results.
Offline, too, the Mbappe brand appeared to be under threat.
When AFP visited the Adidas flagship store in Beijing’s Sanlitun shopping district, Real Madrid shirts were available for sale, but none bearing the striker’s name.
Mbappe merchandise, including unofficial jerseys, beanies and caps, remains available on retail app Taobao.
Chinese state media have previously praised Mbappe as a “footballing sensation” and “talent”, with the forward well-loved by fans in the country.
His face is plastered on billboards, on soft drinks and across social media.
Mbappe is also sometimes affectionately referred to as “Guigui”, meaning “turtle” in Chinese, for his resemblance to a character from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie.
Other major overseas sports leagues have previously angered China.
China suspended sponsorship deals with the NBA while the state broadcaster pulled NBA games off Chinese television for a year in October 2019.
This followed Houston Rockets executive Daryl Morey tweeting “Fight for freedom, stand with Hong Kong”, referring to protests Beijing called separatist and seditious.
“In this era of economic globalisation, an increasing number of celebrities are stepping onto the global stage, engaging with fans and business partners from diverse cultural backgrounds,” the official People’s Daily said in an opinion piece this week.
“Learning how to respect different nations and cultures is an essential lesson.
“Respecting the history, culture, social customs and national sentiments of others is a fundamental principle for cross-border interaction, a standard of conduct widely upheld by the international community.”
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