Kylian Mbappé was dropped by major brands in China on Tuesday after an interview was broadcast on the internet in which he appeared to joke about the founder of the communist government Mao Zedong. In the past, other sports figures have found themselves at the heart of similar controversies in the Asian country after comments deemed inappropriate on sensitive subjects such as the Uighurs, Taiwan, Tibet or Hong Kong. Here is a small anthology of the main cases.
German footballer of Turkish origin Mesut Özil, who played for Arsenal, condemned in 2019 the security policy in Xinjiang (northwest China), initiated after deadly attacks and which affects several Muslim minorities including the Uighurs. “Corans are burned... mosques destroyed... Islamic schools banned... religious intellectuals killed one after the other... Brothers sent by force to camps,” writes the player on Twitter and Instagram.
Human rights organizations and Washington then accuse Beijing of having interned up to a million Muslims in political re-education camps in Xinjiang. Beijing rejects these accusations and speaks of “vocational training centers”, intended to help the population find work and keep them away from religious extremism. Arsenal distances itself from player's 'personal opinions' and China says Mesut Özil is 'misled by false information'. Chinese public channel CCTV cancels the broadcast of a match between Arsenal and Manchester City. Özil is removed from the Chinese versions of the Pro Evolution Soccer video game.
Eight times selected for the NBA All-Star Game, American player Dwight Howard describes Taiwan as a “country” in 2023 in a video. The basketball player then played for the Taoyuan Leopards, in Taiwan, after leaving the Los Angeles Lakers. “Since my arrival in Taiwan, I have discovered this country in a completely different light. I feel surrounded by a lot of love there,” Howard said in this video.
Taiwan is not a member of the UN. China considers Taiwan to be part of its territory and opposes any declaration that might imply that the island constitutes an independent state. The affair provokes strong emotion on Chinese social networks. According to several media, Howard then assured Taiwanese journalists that he did not want to offend anyone.
In 2019, Hong Kong, a semi-autonomous Chinese territory, was shaken for months by a vast pro-democracy protest movement. It is marked by sometimes violent clashes between demonstrators and the police. Daryl Morey, then general manager of the American franchise of the Houston Rockets, in the NBA, published on Twitter a message of support for the demonstrators opposed to Beijing.
Several companies in China are cutting ties with the NBA, while CCTV stops broadcasting matches in the North American basketball league. Chinese internet giant Tencent temporarily stops broadcasting Houston Rockets matches. The NBA then indicated that it had lost hundreds of millions of dollars in the affair. It returned to the Chinese market in October 2025 with two pre-season matches in Macau.
Basketball player Enes Kanter Freedom, then a Boston Celtics player, described Chinese President Xi Jinping as a “brutal dictator” on social media in 2021. “Tibet belongs to the Tibetan people!” continues the player of Turkish origin and naturalized American. “I stand with my Tibetan brothers and sisters, and I support their calls for Freedom.” China's Foreign Ministry says its "ridiculous allegations" about Tibet "don't even deserve to be refuted."
Known to be a vocal critic of China, Enes Kanter Freedom also calls on athletes not to go to the Winter Olympics organized the following year in Beijing. Celtics games are being removed from Chinese streaming platforms. Former Chinese basketball star Yao Ming says he is ready to “invite him to come and see China” for himself.
