The captain of the France team apologized after comments about Mao Zedong, leading to a digital and commercial boycott in China.
AI-generated summary
The captain of the French team called Mao Zedong a “Chinese dictator” in a podcast.
The captain of the France team apologized on Tuesday for describing former leader Mao Zedong, in a podcast, as a “Chinese dictator”. A gesture appreciated by Chinese leaders. “We take seriously the apology presented by the person concerned,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said at a regular press briefing.
However, it is now impossible to subscribe to the Real Madrid star's accounts on the Weibo and Xiaohongshu platforms (also called “RedNote”), on which he has a total of more than two million subscribers. According to Chinese media, several brands such as Dior and Hublot have deleted content related to the captain of the French team from their Weibo accounts.
Dior, Hublot, Adidas have removed all references to Mbappé
When searching for the footballer's name in Mandarin on the Weibo accounts of Dior and Hublot, AFP journalists obtained no results. Beyond social networks, Mbappé's name is disappearing from stores. In the main Adidas store in the Chinese capital, AFP journalists were able to see Real Madrid jerseys on sale, but none bore Mbappé's name. On the other hand, it is still possible to obtain unofficial derivative products bearing the image of the star on the Taobao application.
Kylian Mbappé is eminently popular in China, where football arouses great enthusiasm despite the poor results of the national team. He is even affectionately nicknamed “Guigui” (“turtle”) due to his appearance in another old meme surrounding the Ninja Turtles.

Thierry Peponnet, Olympic sailing champion, is challenging in court the exclusion of athletes from before 2012 from the retirement quarter validation system, a situation which penalizes thousands of former French athletes.

Real Madrid formally apologized to China after Kylian Mbappé's comments calling Mao Zedong a "dictator". The player and his club have expressed their regrets.

Kylian Mbappé apologized after the broadcast of controversial remarks about Mao Zedong in China. The incident sparked a sharp backlash from state media, the termination of major advertising contracts and a boycott of Spanish soccer matches.

Kylian Mbappé apologized in China after the resurgence of a joke about Mao Zedong. This controversy leads to economic sanctions, the boycott of La Liga and rekindles tensions between European sport and the Chinese market.
After controversial remarks about Mao Zedong, Kylian Mbappé presented his apologies, taken seriously by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, while his digital presence is declining in the country.
France captain Kylian Mbappé has apologized after calling Mao Zedong a dictator. Despite this, brands like Dior, Hublot and Adidas have deleted his references and his subscriptions have been blocked on Chinese social networks.