Mbappé, Mao and China: How a Football Meme Sparked a Political Firestorm
Kylian Mbappé made a joke about a meme featuring Mao Zedong. Within hours, the Real Madrid superstar was facing a major backlash in China.Chinese sponsors cut ties with him, state television suspended La Liga broadcasts, and his social media presence came under restrictions. Yet many Chinese internet users were left asking the same question: What did Mbappé actually say?The controversy began with an old interview clip in which Mbappé referred to a meme depicting him as a Chinese dictator—without explicitly naming Mao. The reaction quickly escalated into a dispute involving Chinese media…
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