Soccer superstar Kylian Mbappe laughed at a meme involving Mao Zedong, the Chinese dictator who died a half-century ago, and is facing serious backlash in the form of losing Chinese sponsors and having his team’s matches banned on television around the country.
During a recent interview on The Bridge, a French talk show hosted by Mbappe’s Real Madrid teammate Aurelien Tchouameni, the 27-year-old star reportedly said the meme “that makes me laugh the most, it’s the one where there’s a video of a guy, I think it’s a Chinese dictator, they put my [face over it].” Mbappe smiled as the show cut to a meme of his face imposed on an image resembling Mao.
One of Mbappe’s most popular nicknames is “The Dictator,” given his prowess on the field and overall influence on the sport globally. Mao ruled China as a communist dictator from 1949 to 1976, with his regime resulting in tens of millions of deaths.
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Eastroc Beverage Group Co. and China Mengniu Dairy Co., two Chinese consumer brands that hired Mbappe, have both announced that they are cutting ties with Mbappe after their stocks took a hit, according to Bloomberg. Dongpeng, a drink company, stated it was cutting all ties with Mbappe as well.
Mbappe’s official social media accounts on the Weibo and Xiaohongshu platforms have reportedly been frozen and marked with notices about violating regulations. State-run CCTV not only reportedly stopped airing Real Madrid matches in China, but also all La Liga matches, the top-flight league in Spain that features a total of 20 clubs.
Lin Jian, a spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry, even weighed in with a stark statement about Mbappe’s joke about a meme. “We have noted the relevant reports. Words and deeds that hurt the feelings of the Chinese people will naturally be met with opposition from all sectors of Chinese society,” Jian stated, per The Financial Times.
With fierce action being taken by communist China, both La Liga and Mbappe did not take long to succumb to the pressure and swiftly issued apologies.
On Tuesday, La Liga issued a statement explaining that it “deeply regrets the offense caused by Kylian Mbappé’s recent comments among Chinese fans. These comments were made in a personal capacity and do not represent LALIGA. To the extent of our institutional responsibility, we apologize on behalf of LALIGA and all its clubs.”
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Less than an hour later came Mbappe’s apology, which he shared with his millions of followers across social media.
“During a recent interview, I reacted to an image of myself,” the statement began. “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 deep respect for the Chinese people and their history, and I am sincerely sorry.”
If this situation feels familiar, it’s because it is, as the NBA faced similar backlash in China years ago.
In 2019, then-Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey posted an image on Twitter, now X, showing support for pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong. The image read, “Fight For Freedom. Stand With Hong Kong.”
The backlash in China was swift and fierce, to put it mildly. The Rockets had many of their Chinese sponsors suspend ties with the organization, CCTV stopped broadcasting NBA games for roughly a year and league commissioner Adam Silver faced calls from the Chinese government that Morey should be fired.
Despite the NBA reportedly losing hundreds of millions of dollars as a result of Morey’s post, Silver defended Morey’s right to free speech while understanding the social media post offended some Chinese fans, and certainly the country’s leaders.
LeBron James, however, took a different approach. As a Nike athlete with substantial financial ties to China, James claimed that Morey was “misinformed” by the situation taking place with the protests.
“And so many people could have been harmed not only financially, physically, emotionally, spiritually. So just be careful what we tweet and say and we do, even though, yes, we do have freedom of speech, but there can be a lot of negative that comes with that, too,” James said when initially asked about the situation.
One year after his social media post, Morey resigned as the Rockets’ general manager before quickly taking over as the president of basketball operations for the Philadelphia 76ers. Morey was fired by the 76ers in May 2026, two months before James opted to sign with Philadelphia.