Mbappe apologised to China over a joke about Mao — but many in China don't know what he actually said

A joke that turned into a scandal

On Monday evening, during the Ballon d'Or ceremony in London, Kylian Mbappe found himself at the center of a storm of outrage on Chinese social media. Fans found a clip of an interview in which the footballer talks about the meme that makes him 'laugh the hardest': his face is superimposed on an image of a 'Chinese dictator' resembling Mao Zedong. Mbappe himself did not name Mao in the interview, but for many users any mention of the founder of the PRC proved beyond the pale — as reported by BBC News.

The consequences: brands, broadcasts and the Foreign Ministry

The scandal escalated rapidly: Chinese brands severed their contracts with the footballer one after another, while China Media Group — the parent company of state broadcaster CCTV — suspended broadcasts of La Liga matches. A spokesperson for China's Foreign Ministry said: 'Words and actions that offend the feelings of the Chinese people will naturally meet with the joint opposition of all strata of Chinese society.' Soon after, Mbappe said he 'sincerely regretted' his 'inappropriate' remark; apologies were also issued by Real Madrid and La Liga — China is a huge market for the world's most popular sport. Beijing later confirmed that it takes the footballer's apology 'seriously', but China Media Group has not yet said whether the broadcasts will resume.

What cannot be spoken of: the paradox of censorship

The irony of the situation is that, despite the scale of the backlash, many users of Chinese social media still do not know exactly what Mbappe said. The censorship system that cuts 1.4 billion people off from the global internet has made Mao's name virtually unpronounceable: users shared the clip by blurring the meme and crossing out references to Mao, replacing mentions of him with euphemisms — 'the man on the 100-yuan banknote' or 'the Teacher', a title Mao once used for himself. AI chatbots operating within the same censorship system refused to answer questions. Neither the Foreign Ministry statement nor the apologies from Mbappe, Real Madrid and La Liga mentioned Mao directly either.

Why Mao is a special figure

The reaction in China is explained by Mao's special status: he remains an almost sacred figure — his portrait towers over Tiananmen Square, and his embalmed body is on public display, drawing tens of thousands of visitors every day. The Communist Party's official verdict holds that Mao's achievements outweigh his mistakes, even though his rule included the 'Great Leap Forward' and the 'Cultural Revolution', which, according to the BBC, brought a famine that claimed tens of millions of lives and mass purges. In China, it is also legally forbidden to 'insult' or 'slander' the party's martyrs and war heroes.

Different reactions inside and outside China

Reactions outside China, where Mao is viewed both as a revolutionary and as a dictator, were entirely different. In the comments under Mbappe's post on X, users of Chinese origin wrote: 'You don't need to apologise, you did nothing wrong', while some placed the blame on the Communist Party. On X and Threads, which are inaccessible in China, the scandal spawned new memes — from Mbappe's face on other images of Mao to collages featuring the current PRC leader Xi Jinping. Part of the global audience reacted with bewilderment: under Real Madrid's apology on Instagram, one of the top comments said that 'people there apparently aren't allowed to criticise their leaders — and they expect the whole world to think the same way'.

Image source, CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images

Image source, Weibo

Image source, AFP via Getty Images

Image source, AFP via Getty Images

Image source, AFP via Getty Images