Football star Kylian Mbappe has been dropped by Chinese brands after a video in which he joked about an internet meme, describing himself as “photoshopped” onto the face of “a Chinese dictator”. This clear reference to a meme that showed Mbappe superimposed on an image of Mao Zedong, the founder of China, has caused great anger, as jokes about Mao, who died in 1976, are considered deeply disrespectful and a social taboo in China.
As a result, beverage giant Dongpeng and China’s largest dairy producer, Mengniu, announced the immediate termination of all cooperation with the French captain. Dongpeng said, “our company strongly opposes and has a zero-tolerance policy towards any behaviour that offends national sentiment”, while Mengniu added that it “strongly opposes and has a zero-tolerance policy towards any word or action that hurts the feelings of the Chinese people”. These decisions come despite Mbappe’s great popularity in China, where he was known by the nickname “Guigui” (Tortoise) and had millions of followers on social media. Advertisements featuring AI-generated images of the 27-year-old drinking Dongpeng sports drinks were regularly shown in China during this year’s World Cup.
The video, whose authenticity was not immediately verified by AFP Fact Check, triggered a wave of reactions on Chinese social media. “Dongpeng Beverage ends cooperation with Mbappe” became the most-searched topic on Weibo. One Weibo user stressed that “the extremely serious and erroneous remarks… crossed the red line. They are completely unacceptable.” Others asked Dongpeng to remove Mbappe’s image from its energy drink bottles. Dongqiudi, one of China’s largest online football portals, stated that Mbappe’s remarks were “offensive to China and the Chinese people” and “have hurt the feelings of Chinese football fans and the Chinese people”.
This is not the first time Mbappe has faced controversy over such memes. In September, he spoke about an earlier meme that portrayed him as a military dictator, in an interview with French sports newspaper L’Equipe. He said, “There is a part that is funny. You could say that, for some people, it’s all entertainment. But there is another part that is a little less funny because of the damage such people have caused throughout history.” He added: “To be compared with individuals who kill others, or who have brought misery to millions and millions of people – well, I don’t think I have ever done anything like that in my life.”The incident in China comes one day after Mbappe lost the “Ballon d’Or” award to Harry Kane. Global sports stars who have previously commented on sensitive topics such as Taiwan, Tibet and Hong Kong have caused controversy in China and been abandoned by sponsors there. Former NBA player Dwight Howard called Taiwan a country in 2023, sparking anger on Chinese social media, since Beijing considers Taiwan part of its territory and has threatened to use force to bring it under its control. In 2019, Houston Rockets manager Daryl Morey posted a tweet in support of the Hong Kong protests, leading to the suspension of sponsorship deals with the NBA and the removal of games from Chinese television for a year. These cases highlight China’s high sensitivity to issues it considers interference in its internal affairs or insults to its historical figures and national sentiment, showing the great risk for international public figures. (589 words)
Taken from France 24 Live News