Three Chinese companies cut ties with Kylian Mbappé on Tuesday after a video circulated in which the France captain apparently referred to former Chinese leader Mao Zedong as a dictator.
Beverage maker Dongpeng, dairy giant Mengniu and cheese maker Milkground announced they were ending their agreements, each expressing opposition to “any words and actions that hurt national sentiment”. The companies did not specify what prompted their decisions.
“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.
The clip 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.
AP quoted his response as “a video someone made of a guy ... I think he was a Chinese dictator”. AFP rendered the remark as “some guy – I think he’s a Chinese dictator”.
The video then showed an altered image of Mbappé’s face on Mao’s body. AFP Fact Check said it could not immediately verify the video’s authenticity. AP said it was unable to reach Mbappé’s representatives for comment.
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”.
Mbappé has featured in advertising campaigns in China for products from electrolyte drinks to milk and cheese. In one commercial for Dongpeng, Mbappé delivers a slogan in Chinese; in an ad for Mengniu, he appears alongside Argentine soccer 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.
The backlash spread across Chinese social media. AFP reported that “Dongpeng Beverage ends cooperation with Mbappe” topped Weibo’s trending list. AP also reported trending hashtags including “Dongpeng ends partnership with Mbappé”, “Several brands end partnerships with Mbappé” and “Football fans boycott Mbappé”.
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”.
Mbappé had 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.