French Football Federation chief Philippe Diallo said Kylian Mbappe should be allowed to move on amid controversy over the France captain referring to former Chinese leader Mao Zedong as a dictator because the player has apologised and intended no offence.
Mbappe’s club Real Madrid and La Liga have also apologised following the remarks, while the league’s president Javier Tebas set up a crisis unit and met Chinese ambassador to Spain, Yao Jing, on Wednesday as Spanish football sought to contain the fallout .
The backlash highlights the risks for athletes and brands in the lucrative Chinese market, where satire about Mao, modern China’s founding leader who governed the country from 1949 until his death in 1976, remains a social taboo.
Chinese state media outlet China Daily said Mbappe’s remark had “triggered a backlash among his Chinese fans, threatened his lucrative commercial relationships and offered a sharp reminder of the limits of celebrity influence”.
China’s state-owned broadcaster Migu is not showing Real Madrid’s game at Racing Santander on Sunday, and Chinese brands including dairy companies Mengniu and Shanghai Milkground Food Tech, as well as Eastroc Beverage, have ceased all cooperation with Mbappe .
Diallo expressed hope the issue would soon be resolved.
“It is a controversy which, ultimately, should not, I hope, last because Kylian has very well explained the context in which this intervention took place. He has apologised,” Diallo was quoted as saying by French newspaper Ouest-France on Thursday.
“I believe we should now leave it at that so that he can continue his season in the best possible conditions.”
The controversy stems from a long-running joke surrounding 27-year-old Mbappe’s influence at club level.
In a video on a French podcast that has since been taken down, Mbappe is heard discussing a meme in which his face had been photoshopped onto that of “some guy”, adding: “I think he’s a Chinese dictator.”
Fans have previously created memes superimposing Mbappe’s face on images of military and political leaders to suggest he has the power to influence decisions at the teams he plays for. Mbappe has been nicknamed “the dictator” in the European press.
A spokesman for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the government is taking Mbappe’s apology “seriously”.
