China Pulls La Liga Airtime as Mbappe Comment Costs Him Sponsors

Chinese broadcasters stopped airing La Liga matches after Kylian Mbappe described a meme showing his face on a Chinese political leader.

The Real Madrid forward said in a video that the funniest internet meme he had seen put his face on "some guy, I think he's a Chinese dictator." He did not name Mao Zedong, who led China from 1949 until his death in 1976. The clip, shared by the French podcast The Bridge on Monday, was filmed in April and has since been removed. Satire about Mao remains a sensitive subject in China.

The commercial consequences followed quickly. Chinese drinks maker Dongpeng ended its contract with Mbappe on Tuesday, citing a "zero-tolerance policy towards any behaviour that offends national sentiments." Dairy producer Mengniu also cut ties. Some Chinese reports said Dior and Hublot pulled Mbappe content from Weibo, and AFP found no jerseys carrying his name at the Adidas flagship store in Beijing's Sanlitun district. Xiaohongshu froze his account, which has at least a million followers, and Weibo blocked new followers from joining his page. The state-backed outlet The Paper reported Tuesday that China's state television halted broadcasts of matches and events involving La Liga and Mbappe, and that advertisements featuring him were pulled.

Mbappe, 27, issued an apology Tuesday in French, Mandarin and English, calling the comment "ill-judged." He said he now understood it hurt many people in China and Chinese communities worldwide, and added: "I have deep respect for the Chinese people and their history, and I am sincerely sorry." Foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said Wednesday that China takes the apology "seriously." Chinese state media did not repeat the original remark, describing it only as "inappropriate remarks concerning China." The Global Times asked, "What did he say? Many Chinese would rather not repeat it," and wrote that one "doesn't get to profit from China while disrespecting it."

La Liga president Javier Tebas met China's ambassador to Spain and called China "a strategic partner." Reuters reported that he was considering a trip to China to prevent a large financial loss for Spanish football. Real Madrid apologized Wednesday to the Chinese people and said the club "maintains a deep respect for China, its history, its culture and its citizens." Sports sponsorship expert Terrence Burns said Mbappe's team "knew, or should have known, what the true cost of Chinese brand endorsements was all about." The episode follows China's October 2019 decision to suspend NBA sponsorships and pull state broadcaster games for a year over a separate controversy.