On Monday night, while Kylian Mbappé attended the Ballon d'Or ceremony in London, he became the centre of a major controversy on Chinese social media. Football fans had found a clip of him joking about a meme that makes him "laugh the most", in which his face is superimposed on a "Chinese dictator" resembling Mao Zedong, who oversaw one of the bloodiest chapters in the country's past.
The backlash spread quickly. Chinese brands cut ties with him one by one, and China Media Group, the parent of state broadcaster CCTV, suspended broadcasts of La Liga matches. A foreign ministry spokesperson said that words and actions hurting the feelings of the Chinese people would face opposition from all sectors of society. Yet on the Chinese internet, few spelled out exactly what had been said, and many avoided even using Mao's name. China's censorship system, which cuts 1.4 billion people off from the global internet, meant many did not know what had happened.
Mbappé soon said he was "sincerely sorry" for his "ill-judged" comment. Real Madrid and La Liga also issued apologies. Beijing said it was taking the apology "seriously", but China Media Group has yet to say whether broadcasts will resume. Online anger lingered, with one top Weibo comment saying, "I don't forgive him. I support a ban on him." Mbappé did not mention Mao by name in the interview, but many felt any joke involving the founder of Communist China crossed a line.
Even as users condemned the remark, many were still asking what the French forward had actually said, and AI chatbots, which are also censored, could not explain it. Some referred only to "the person on the 100 yuan note" or "the teacher". Mao, who founded the People's Republic of China, died in 1976. Despite the famine and purges of his rule, he remains a revered figure in China, and it is illegal to "insult" or "slander" Communist Party martyrs and war heroes.
Source: BBC Sport Football · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing