Latest / THE DAILY BRIEF / Chinese brands cut ties with soccer star Mbappe over ‘Chinese dictator’ remarks

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Chinese brands cut ties with soccer star Mbappe over ‘Chinese dictator’ remarks · THE DAILY BRIEF

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: French soccer superstar Kylian Mbappe is apologizing after a joke
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: about China's former leader sparked a backlash and cost him
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: several sponsorship deals. Three Chinese companies have dropped him after
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: a video surfaced in which he referred to the founder
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: of communist China as a dictator. Mbappe says that he
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: never intended to offend anyone. Chinese state television has reportedly
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: stopped broadcasting his matches. Now that we know why Mbappe
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: is making headlines, I want to bring in someone who
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: is following the reaction.
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: That this is getting.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: Joanna Chu is managing partner at Nuora Global Advisors. That's
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: an international research and strategic advisory firm. She's also a
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: journalist and author who covers geopolitics with a focus on China.
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: Joanna, good to have you on the show. Thank you. Thanks, Sarah.
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: So what do you make of the Mbappe controversy and
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: then subsequent apology around just a meme?
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: Well, I've been a journalist for more than 15 years.
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: In the last year, I've been my research advisor. We
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: also do crisis communications.
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: So looking at it from both angles as a journalist
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  Speaker 3: and now someone who works in comms, it's quite interesting
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  Speaker 3: because he's not, he won't be the last celebrity to
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  Speaker 3: issue an apology because it's something he said in passing.
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: That angered people in China.
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  Speaker 4: So But his apology is kind of in the middle
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  Speaker 4: of what these celebrity apologies turn out to be. He
• 1:33
  Speaker 4: acknowledged that his comment was ill-judged and that it hurt
• 1:37
  Speaker 4: Chinese people, but he didn't acknowledge or weigh in on
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  Speaker 4: whether what he said was accurate or not or concede
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  Speaker 4: any political points. So it was interesting and definitely reflects
• 1:49
  Speaker 4: a calculation probably from his PR team on how do...
• 1:55
  Speaker 4: apologize without sparking further controversy.
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: So, you know, so it sounds like he had kind
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: of made this in a lighthearted remark. He did call
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: the former communist leader a dictator. Are you surprised that China,
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: Chinese companies would have the kind of reaction that they did,
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: like killing sponsorship deals over a comment like that?
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, so not all of his sponsors cut the deals,
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  Speaker 4: but it's confusing because Mao, you know, historians have solid
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  Speaker 4: grounds to describe how he led as a dictator. In China,
• 2:39
  Speaker 4: Chairman Mao founded the People's Republic in 1949, and the
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  Speaker 4: current state's legitimacy rests on.
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  Speaker 2: How he's perceived. So a joke about Mao lands... to
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  Speaker 2: some people, as a joke about the country.
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  Speaker 4: And Chairman Mao himself has a mixed and controversial legacy
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  Speaker 4: in China. A lot of people lived through the Cultural
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  Speaker 4: Revolution in the 70s, where people were killed, families were
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  Speaker 4: torn apart. So he's a sensitive figure in China.
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: But was it a surprise to you to see that
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  Speaker 1: Chinese reaction to potentially not broadcast matches or to to
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  Speaker 1: kill the sponsorship deals, there will be those who might
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: not maybe understand the.
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: Sensitivity of this. They might think that China might be.
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: Overly sensitive to what was not intended.
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  Speaker 2: To be harmful.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, so Chinese citizens in a Chinese state are not
• 3:36
  Speaker 4: one and the same. And Chinese citizens, a lot of them,
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  Speaker 4: not all, are legitimately quite patriotic and have sensitivity around.
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  Speaker 4: Comments made by influential people around the world. So I
• 3:52
  Speaker 4: wouldn't see this as an example of Chinese state-associated pressure
• 3:57
  Speaker 4: on a star to self-censor, but I would see it
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  Speaker 4: more as mostly a commercial calculation from his part to
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  Speaker 4: issue an apology because of the corporate sponsorships. Soccer is
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  Speaker 4: increasingly very popular in China.
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  Speaker 2: So....
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  Speaker 4: Like when I, you know, live in China, like there
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  Speaker 4: are satirical T-shirts about.
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  Speaker 2: Chairman Mao that you can find in stores.
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  Speaker 4: So not everyone is going to be quite sensitive, but
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  Speaker 4: it seems like enough have a reaction to proms.
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: You mentioned at the top that you think that potentially
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: other celebrities could find themselves caught in this, you know,
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  Speaker 1: not understanding the not reading the room, if you will,
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  Speaker 1: when it comes to China.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: And not just doing it by accident, but deliberately.
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  Speaker 4: So in the NBA's case, Rocket GM, he tweeted support
• 4:49
  Speaker 4: in 2019 for the Hong Kong pro-democracy movement.
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  Speaker 2: And he didn't apologize.
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  Speaker 4: He issued a statement, you know, clarifying his position. But
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  Speaker 4: sometimes it's not necessarily like people are aware of some
• 5:05
  Speaker 4: of the sensitivities.
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  Speaker 2: And still choose to speak out. In his case, it
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  Speaker 2: did seem like an off-the-cuff comment.
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: Can Mbappe restore his fan base? Has he made amends here,
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  Speaker 1: do you think?
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  Speaker 4: Well, again, his apology was kind of, you know, in
• 5:24
  Speaker 4: a couple of slides, someone saying, I'm sorry I hurt
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  Speaker 4: your feelings, rather than saying what I said was very wrong.
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  Speaker 2: He did say it was ill-judged. So it's too soon
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  Speaker 2: to say on TV.
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  Speaker 4: Whether this will, you know, rectify his image to everyone
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  Speaker 4: in China. But there hasn't been news of further corporate
• 5:45
  Speaker 4: sponsors cutting ties with him. So that might be the
• 5:48
  Speaker 4: highest priority for him and his team, that they're not
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  Speaker 4: leading further lucrative corporate sponsors in China. Okay.
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: Joanna Chu, thank you very much.
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: Thank you.
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  Speaker 4: Thank you.