What is the controversy between Real Madrid’s Kylian Mbappe and China?

What the report says

Al Jazeera reports that Real Madrid and France star Kylian Mbappe has triggered a major backlash in China after a video circulated online showing him joking about an image linked to Mao Zedong. The clip, reportedly filmed in April and later shared by a French football podcast, appeared to show Mbappe laughing at an internet meme depicting him as a “Chinese dictator,” though he did not name Mao directly in the video. The episode quickly spread on Chinese social media and became a sensitive issue because jokes about Mao and China’s founding leadership are widely treated as taboo.

According to the report, the controversy has had direct commercial consequences. Chinese brands Dongpeng and Mengniu ended their sponsorship ties with Mbappe, while some reports said other companies also removed related content from Chinese platforms. State media and online users criticized the footballer, and Chinese social media accounts associated with him were reportedly restricted. The article also says China’s state television halted La Liga broadcasts involving Mbappe and removed advertisements featuring him.

Mbappe later apologized, saying his comment was ill-judged and was not intended to offend Chinese people or Chinese communities abroad. China’s foreign ministry said it took the apology seriously. The dispute highlights how quickly athletes can run into trouble in China’s large consumer market when comments are seen as politically or culturally disrespectful, and it adds to a broader pattern of sports and entertainment figures facing backlash over sensitive topics.