La Liga also intervenes in Kylian Mbappé controversy with China

In a video that went viral on social media on Wednesday, the 27‑year‑old French striker Kylian Mbappé laughs at a manipulated image of Mao Zedong, which sparked a storm of outrage in China and immediately led to an apology from the Real Madrid player.

Mbappé gave an official statement on Tuesday in which he described his comment about the former Chinese leader as a “dictator” as thoughtless. He wrote that he now sees that his words have hurt many people in China and Chinese communities worldwide and offered his apologies.

Chinese companies break cooperation

The beverage brand Dongpeng and dairy giant Mengniu announced this morning that they are terminating their contracts with the French striker immediately, because he “has hurt national feelings”. The cheese producer Milkground also issued a similar statement, emphasizing that any word that offends the Chinese population is unacceptable.

The Chinese state broadcaster CCTV, which holds the broadcast rights to the Spanish league, has decided to stop airing La Liga for the time being and to remove all summaries and video clips of the competition from the channel. Advertisements related to the competition were also taken off the television.

La Liga responds under the leadership of Javier Tebas

La Liga chairman Javier Tebas emphasized that the competition has built “a relationship based on respect, trust and cooperation” with China and that “we cannot allow the actions of an individual to damage that relationship”. He stated that Mbappé’s remarks were personal and do not reflect the position of the league.

Javier Tebas apologises to China after Mbappé meme with Mao

La Liga also announced that it will develop a new “communication protocol” for players and clubs, so that future incidents involving sensitive political topics can be addressed promptly and the cooperation with Chinese partners can be maintained.

Guo Jiakun, spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said during the daily press briefing that any statement that offends the feelings of the Chinese people “will naturally be rejected by the entire Chinese society”.

On the Chinese social network Weibo a storm of outrage erupted, and the football website Dongqiudi reported that the statements were “so offensive to China and the Chinese people” that they chose not to translate the coverage. The public outrage was widely shared.

La Liga distances itself from Mbappé after Mao controversy in China

This incident follows earlier cases in which China exerted economic pressure, such as in 2019 when the Chinese state broadcaster halted the broadcast of NBA games after Daryl Morey, then general manager of the Houston Rockets, expressed support for protests in Hong Kong.

The meme originally came from a podcast with teammate Aurélien Tchouaméni, in which Mbappé was asked about his favorite meme. He replied that he found “a video of a man, I think he was a Chinese dictator, with my face on it” the funniest and that he often shared it with friends.