It’s been a bad start to the week for the France forward Kylian Mbappé. He missed out on joining the elite roster of Ballon d’Or winners, and instead became the latest high-profile addition to a far less illustrious list – that of foreign brands and individuals charged with “hurting the feelings of the Chinese people”. The saga began when a video of the Real Madrid player making light of a meme involving him and China’s former leader Mao Zedong began spreading.
Within hours Mbappé found himself condemned online, before being unceremoniously dropped by brands, then held responsible for state television suspending the entire top Spanish league from its schedule. On Tuesday Mbappé apologised – “My comment was ill-judged, and I now understand that it hurt many people in China – as did La Liga, which released a statement saying it “deeply regrets the offence that Kylian Mbappé’s recent comments have caused among Chinese fans”. Foreign brands from Mercedes to Versace and celebrities from John Cena to Katy Perry have previously been sent to the sin bin for crossing China’s political lines on Tibet, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Mbappé’s case shows how sensitive Mao’s legacy remains in China 50 years after his death – to the extent that most Chinese coverage of the affair does not even mention what the footballer said. In the video, Mbappé references a meme of himself and “a guy … I think he was a Chinese dictator”, after which a composite image of Mbappé’s face on Mao’s body pops up. (Mbappé has been nicknamed “the dictator” since his time at Paris Saint-Germain, a joke referring to his perceived influence at the club.) The football app Dongqiudi was among the first to release a statement condemning his “inappropriate remarks”, but said: “Because his comments were offensive to China and the Chinese people, we cannot translate them.” Chinese media have reported on reactions such as the brand desertions, and the China Football Association’s lodging of a “stern protest” with Real Madrid – who on Wednesday apologised “to the Chinese people for any offence caused” – but have generally steered clear of outlining Mbappé’s precise offence. The topic was still trending on Chinese social media on Wednesday morning, with one hashtag relating to the superstar’s apology boasting more than 600m views.
Some posts asked variations on a simple question: “What did he actually say?” “Many netizens without a VPN are still left in the dark about why all the talk about boycotting Mbappé is actually happening,” said Manya Koetse, editor of the Eye on Digital China newsletter, on X. Still, many expressed anger at what was characterised as disrespect for, as well as a misunderstanding of, China’s history. Mao was the founding leader of modern China, but his legacy includes radical policies such as the Great Leap Forward, an industrialisation policy blamed for a famine that killed as many as 30 million people by some estimates.
The ruling Communist party (CCP) maintains Mao was a revolutionary hero, though after his death it acknowledged another extreme policy, the violent Cultural Revolution, was a “grave mistake”. Jennifer Pan, professor of communication at Stanford University, said the difficulty of doing independent social science surveys over the past decade meant “our understanding of what Chinese people actually think is weak”. Did this follow public anger, or did this produce public anger?
Either is possible, and we can’t tell which came first.” Whichever way round, the financial cost for Mbappé is the same. His face is a common sight on Chinese buses, in subways and in online ads, and his commercial deals could be worth “as much as $30m (£22.6m) per year”, estimated Mark Dreyer, author of Sporting Superpower, a book about China’s ambitions in the sector. However, “as soon as someone else has decided you’ve crossed the line, it’s a race to who can cut ties quickest, who can be the most patriotic”, he said.
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