Mbappè, contracts canceled in China for a joke about Mao Tse-tung

The affair, also underlined by "The Guardian", had even wider repercussions. In fact, some Chinese media have confirmed that public television has suspended the broadcast of Spanish La Liga matches. The fuss began after a video, which went viral, in which the French ace stated that the funniest meme that portrays him is the one in which his face was superimposed, through photo editing, on that of "a guy - I think he's a Chinese dictator". This is a clear reference to a meme in which Mbappé's face appears superimposed on an image of Mao. "My comment was inappropriate. I now understand that I have hurt many people in China and in Chinese communities around the world. I apologize to anyone who felt offended by my words," the French striker said in a statement released in French, Chinese and English and published on position of the League", it was explained.

In China, therefore, joking about Mao - the founding leader of the country, who passed away in 1976 - remains taboo. This is demonstrated by the fact that the drinks giant Dongpeng - which during the last World Cup had broadcast commercials in which Mbappé appeared, thanks to artificial intelligence, while consuming their sports drink - announced the interruption of all collaboration with the captain of the French national team. “Our company firmly opposes any behavior that offends national sentiment and adopts a zero-tolerance policy in this regard,” Dongpeng said in a statement. Mengniu, the main producer of dairy products in China, and the dairy company Milkground also announced that they had severed relations with Mbappé, who until now enjoyed great popularity among Chinese fans, counting on millions of followers on social media.

"Dongpeng Beverage ends collaboration with Mbappé" was the top trending topic on the Chinese social network Weibo, totaling 430 million views. One user, on this very social network, commented that the "seriously incorrect statements... have crossed the red line", while others urged Dongpeng to remove the image of Mbappé from its bottles. Ed Dongqiudi, a leading online football portal in China, called Mbappé's statements "offensive to China and the Chinese people."