Kylian Mbappe issued an apology on Tuesday for an “ill-judged” comment that apparently referred to former Chinese leader Mao Zedong as a dictator, after three Chinese companies ended their sponsorship agreements with the French superstar.
“During a recent interview, I reacted to an image of myself,” Mbappé said in a statement issued in French, Chinese and English.
“My comment was ill-judged, and I now understand that it hurt many people in China and in Chinese communities around the world.
“I apologise to everyone my words have upset. This was absolutely not my intention. I have a deep respect for the Chinese people and their history, and I am sincerely sorry.”
Earlier, beverage maker Dongpeng, dairy giant Mengniu and cheese maker Milkground were among the first to announce they were ending their agreements after expressing opposition to “any words and actions that hurt national sentiment”.
“Our company firmly opposes and has a zero-tolerance policy towards any behaviour that offends national sentiments,” Dongpeng said, adding that “with immediate effect we are terminating all cooperation with Kylian Mbappe”.
Mengniu issued a similar statement: “With immediate effect our company is terminating all cooperation with Kylian Mbappe.”
“Mengniu firmly opposes and has a zero-tolerance policy towards any words or actions that hurt the feelings of the Chinese people,” it added.
La Liga president Javier Tebas also apologised to China on behalf of the league.
“From LALIGA, we deeply regret the statements made by Kylian Mbappé that have caused discomfort and offense in China. We understand the harm caused and, on behalf of LALIGA, I wish to convey our sincere apologies to the Chinese people,” he wrote on X, according to a translation of his Spanish-language post.
Stating that the league had built a relationship of respect and trust with China’s authorities and sports institutions over many years, Tebas said, “We cannot allow an individual action to tarnish that relationship or harm the more than 20 clubs in our professional competitions and millions of Chinese fans.”
“We are taking the measures within our reach and working directly with our partners and interlocutors in China to overcome this situation,” he added.
The clip at the centre of the controversy appeared to show the Real Madrid forward being interviewed before an appearance on the French online talk show The Bridge. Asked about his favourite meme of himself, Mbappé referred to an image placing his face on another person’s body, saying, “a video someone made of a guy … I think he was a Chinese dictator.”
The video then showed an altered image of Mbappé’s face on Mao’s body.
Mbappe has featured in advertising campaigns in China for products from electrolyte drinks to milk and cheese. In one commercial for Dongpeng, he deliveres a slogan in Chinese; in an ad for Mengniu, he appears alongside Argentine football star Lionel Messi.
The 27-year-old has millions of followers in China, where fans have nicknamed him “Guigui”, or “Turtle”, after a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles meme.
However, his comments led to a backlash spread across Chinese social media. Social media platform RedNote also joined the criticism. It said its content partnership with Mbappé had ended on December 31, 2024, and that it would “remove related promotional materials”. The platform expressed opposition to “any conduct that hurts national sentiment”.
According to an AP report, “Dongpeng ended its partnership with Mbappé”while the topic of “several brands end partnerships with Mbappé” topped Weibo’s trending list.
One Weibo user said the “extremely serious wrong remarks … crossed the red line. They are completely unacceptable”. Others called for Dongpeng to remove the footballer’s image from its bottles.
Chinese football outlet Dongqiudi said on Monday evening that the remarks were “offensive to China and the Chinese people” and “have hurt the feelings of Chinese football fans and the Chinese people”.
Mbappe had also discussed memes portraying him as a military dictator in a September interview with French sports newspaper L’Equipe.
“There’s a part of it that’s funny. You can tell that, for some people, it’s all in good fun. But there is another part that’s a bit less funny because of the damage such people have caused throughout history,” he said.
“Being compared to individuals who murder others, or who have brought misery to millions upon millions of people – well, I don’t think I’ve ever done anything like that in my life,” he said.
The controversy came a day after Mbappé lost out to Harry Kane for the Ballon d’Or.