Two major Chinese companies have ended their deals with Kylian Mbappé after a video circulated in which he appears to joke about a meme comparing him to a "Chinese dictator"; the authenticity of the clip has not been independently verified.
Kylian Mbappé has been dropped by two major brands in China after a video circulated online in which the France captain and Real Madrid forward apparently said the funniest meme he had seen was one placing his face on that of "some guy – I think he's a Chinese dictator". The remark was widely read as a reference to Mao Zedong, whom the Communist Party still reveres and about whom jokes remain a social taboo. Drinks company Dongpeng said on Tuesday it was "terminating all cooperation" with immediate effect, while dairy giant Mengniu said it "firmly opposes" words or actions that hurt the feelings of the Chinese people. Neither statement named Mao directly, according to AFP, the BBC and Al Jazeera.
The backlash began on Monday evening when Chinese football outlet Dongqiudi called the comments "offensive to China and the Chinese people". Clips with the meme blurred spread quickly on Weibo, where news of Dongpeng ending the partnership became the top trending topic and some users called for a boycott of Mbappé and Real Madrid. According to Chinese media cited by the BBC and the Global Times, state broadcaster CCTV will no longer feature content related to the player and will stop showing LaLiga matches, while Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said that words and deeds that hurt the feelings of the Chinese people would be met with opposition. The CCTV reports come from Chinese media and had not been confirmed by CCTV itself in the sources reviewed.
Important caveats remain. AFP said its fact-checkers could not immediately verify the video's authenticity, and the BBC noted that the original clip is not on the show's YouTube channel and that in the unverified clips Mbappé does not name Mao; the BBC has asked Mbappé and Real Madrid for comment. The footballer has been hugely popular in China, where he is nicknamed "Guigui" (turtle), and has significant endorsement deals there. In September he told L'Équipe that such dictator memes are sometimes less funny because of the damage such figures have caused in history. The episode follows earlier cases in which sports figures were dropped by Chinese sponsors after commenting on sensitive political topics, including the NBA's 2019 dispute over a Hong Kong tweet.
