Kylian Mbappe was dropped Tuesday by two major brands in China after a video circulated online in which the French football superstar apparently joked about former leader Mao Zedong.\n<\/p>\n
In China, jokes about Mao, the country\u2019s founding leader who died in 1976, are considered disrespectful and remain a social taboo.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cOur company firmly opposes and has a zero-tolerance policy towards any behaviour that offends national sentiments,\u201d drinks giant Dongpeng said in a statement, adding that \u201cwith immediate effect we are terminating all cooperation with Kylian Mbappe.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
Adverts showing AI-generated images of the 27-year-old France captain drinking a Dongpeng sports drink were regularly shown in China during this year\u2019s World Cup.<\/p>\n
China\u2019s largest dairy producer, Mengniu, also cut ties with the Real Madrid forward, who until this incident was hugely popular among Chinese fans with millions of followers on social media.\n<\/p>\n
Mbappe is fondly nicknamed \u201cGuigui,\u201d the Chinese translation of \u201cTurtle,\u201d due to his popularity as a character in a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles meme.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cWith immediate effect, our company is terminating all cooperation with Kylian Mbappe,\u201d Mengniu said in a statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cMengniu firmly opposes and has a zero-tolerance policy towards any words or actions that hurt the feelings of the Chinese people,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n
The announcements came after a video emerged online with Mbappe saying that the funniest internet meme he had seen was of his face photo-shopped onto that of \u201csome guy \u2014 I think he\u2019s a Chinese dictator.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
This was an apparent reference to a meme of Mbappe superimposed on an image of Mao, one of several using the footballer\u2019s face and other historical figures.\n<\/p>\n
The authenticity of the video could not immediately be verified by AFP Fact Check.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cDongpeng Beverage ends cooperation with Mbappe\u201d was the top-trending topic on Chinese social media site Weibo.\n<\/p>\n
One Weibo user said that the \u201cextremely serious wrong remarks\u2026 crossed the red line. They are completely unacceptable.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
Others urged Dongpeng to remove Mbappe\u2019s image from their energy drink bottles.<\/p>\n
Dongqiudi, one of China\u2019s biggest online football outlets, said in a statement on Monday evening that Mbappe\u2019s remarks were \u201coffensive to China and the Chinese people\u201d and \u201chave hurt the feelings of Chinese football fans and the Chinese people.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
Mbappe in September addressed a previous meme depicting him as a military dictator, in an interview with French sports newspaper L\u2019Equipe.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a part of it that\u2019s funny. You can tell that, for some people, it\u2019s all in good fun. But there is another part that\u2019s a bit less funny because of the damage such people have caused throughout history,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing compared to individuals who murder others, or who have brought misery to millions upon millions of people \u2014 well, I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever done anything like that in my life,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n
The furore in China came a day after Mbappe lost out to Harry Kane for the Ballon d\u2019Or, the most prestigious individual award in football.\n<\/p>\n
Global sports stars who have commented on sensitive topics such as Taiwan, Tibet and Hong Kong have previously caused controversy in China and been dumped by sponsors there.\n<\/p>\n
Former NBA player Dwight Howard referred to Taiwan as a country in 2023 as he appeared in a video with the island\u2019s vice president and current president Lai Ching-te, sparking fury on Chinese social media.<\/p>\n
Beijing claims Taiwan is part of its territory and has threatened to use force to bring it under its control.\n<\/p>\n
Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey posted a tweet in 2019 supporting Hong Kong protests, leading to China suspending sponsorship deals with the NBA and pulling games off Chinese television for a year.\n<\/p>\n
AFP\n <\/p>\n
Source: <\/p>\n
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