Real Madrid apologizes to China over Mbappé comments

Other major overseas sports leagues have previously angered China.(AFP) — Real Madrid apologized to China on Wednesday after star striker Kylian Mbappé apparently joked about Mao Zedong in comments that sparked a social media storm and prompted the suspension of Spanish soccer broadcasts on state television.Mocking former leader Mao — blamed by historians for millions of deaths — is taboo in China, and Mbappé became the latest foreign sports figure to anger Beijing.In a video interview clip from the French show “The Bridge” that has since been taken down, Mbappé talked about being amused by an internet meme of his face digitally superimposed onto “some guy, think he’s a Chinese dictator,” an apparent reference to Mao.Real Madrid “wishes to express its apologies to the Chinese people for any offence caused by the recent remarks of our player Kylian Mbappé,” the club said in a statement.“The club joins in the public apology issued by Kylian Mbappé, in which the player himself expressed his regret for his words and reiterated his respect for the Chinese people,” the club, a 15-time European champion, said.The statement came a day after Mbappé issued his own apology, saying: “My comment was ill-judged and I now understand that it hurt many people in China and in Chinese communities around the world.”Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told a regular briefing Wednesday: “We take seriously the apology the individual concerned has made.”La Liga, whose match broadcasts were suspended in China, said Tuesday it “deeply regrets the offence that Kylian Mbappé’s recent comments have caused among Chinese fans.”Earlier, the state-run Global Times said in an editorial that it was “not difficult to see that the club’s longstanding tolerance of such behaviour has contributed to Mbappé’s latest offensive remarks.”Chinese beverage giant Dongpeng, which ran ads featuring AI-generated images of Mbappé during this year’s World Cup, said Tuesday it had scrapped its partnership with the player, as did dairy companies Mengniu and Milkground.CMG, which oversees public broadcaster CCTV, said it had decided to suspend broadcasts of La Liga, the world’s second-richest soccer league after England’s Premier League.Mbappé, 27, continued to face a torrent of criticism from Chinese internet users Wednesday, some of it racist.“His remarks were hurtful toward China and the Chinese people, so they cannot be translated,” one user wrote on the social media platform Weibo.Mbappé’s original joke about Mao was not reposted — or had been scrubbed — from China’s tightly controlled social media.Chinese social media app Xiaohongshu, meanwhile, had frozen Mbappé’s account, where he has more than 1 million followers.His Weibo account was also frozen, with a notice stating that “the user has been banned from following due to violating laws or the Weibo Community Convention.”Some Chinese media reports said global brands such as Dior and Hublot had removed their Mbappé-related content from Weibo.An AFP search of Dior’s and Hublot’s Weibo pages using Mbappé’s Chinese name produced no results.‘Respect history’Mbappé’s brand appeared to be under threat offline, too.When AFP visited the Adidas flagship store in Beijing’s Sanlitun shopping district, Real Madrid shirts were available for sale, but none bore the striker’s name.Chinese state media have previously praised Mbappé as a “footballing sensation” and “talent.”His face is plastered on billboards, on soft drinks and across social media.Mbappé is sometimes affectionately referred to as “Guigui,” meaning “turtle” in Chinese, for his resemblance to a character from the “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” movie.Other major overseas sports leagues have previously angered China.In October 2019, China suspended sponsorship deals with the NBA, while the state broadcaster pulled NBA games off Chinese television for a year.The moves followed a tweet by Houston Rockets executive Daryl Morey that read, “Fight for freedom, stand with Hong Kong,” referring to protests Beijing called separatist and seditious.“Respecting the history, culture, social customs and national sentiments of others is a fundamental principle for cross-border interaction, a standard of conduct widely upheld by the international community,” the official People’s Daily newspaper said in an opinion piece.Categories / UncategorizedSubscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads