Mbappé controversy over Mao Zedong: Chinese public television ignores the Real Madrid match

Chinese public television CCTV deprived its viewers of a Real Madrid championship match on Sunday, after announcing this week that it would suspend broadcasting of La Liga following Kylian Mbappé's comments about former Chinese leader Mao Zedong.

The meeting scheduled for 3:15 p.m. GMT (4:15 p.m. in France) between Racing Santander and the Madrid team, where the French footballer plays, was not broadcast on either of the two CCTV sports channels, AFP noted. No match from the 11th day of La Liga, the first since the affair broke out, has yet been broadcast by Chinese public television.

Kylian Mbappé's statements on Tuesday pushed several Chinese brands to break their partnerships with the player, despite an apology made the same day by the captain of the France team. According to LaLiga, interviewed by AFP, Chinese public television had so far broadcast all matches of the Spanish championship live.

Even more worrying for the Madrid club: the Racing Santander-Real Madrid meeting also did not appear to be broadcast on Sunday on Migu, a popular Chinese streaming service, AFP noted. Other matches from the 11th day had however been broadcast on this platform, including that of FC Barcelona.

The controversy started at the start of the week with the broadcast of a video in which Kylian Mbappé evokes a meme of which he is the subject, including one which associates him with a “Chinese dictator” he explains, in reference to misappropriations which place his face on emblematic images of Mao Zedong (1893-1976).

The latter is a central character in Chinese history. Many Chinese consider the founder of the People's Republic (1949) a hero for unifying the country after decades of war and division. It is also presented by the current power as having made it possible to restore the power and independence of China in the face of foreign powers.

Many historians believe, however, that policies under Mao Zedong contributed to famines, persecutions and social upheavals that caused the deaths of tens of millions of people.

Three Chinese companies which used the name and image of Kylian Mbappé for their products (drinks, dairy products, cheese) announced on Tuesday the termination of their contracts with the French star. The Chinese public audiovisual group CMG, which oversees CCTV, then announced the suspension of the broadcast of Spanish championship matches.

La Liga, for which China is a key market, “deplored” Mbappé’s comments, and the player then offered “his apologies”, saying he was “sincerely sorry”. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said it took its apology “seriously”.