{"id":2242,"date":"2026-10-28T10:33:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-28T10:33:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/2026\/10\/28\/real-madrid-apologise-to-china-over-mbappe-comments\/"},"modified":"2026-10-28T10:33:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-28T10:33:09","slug":"real-madrid-apologise-to-china-over-mbappe-comments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/2026\/10\/28\/real-madrid-apologise-to-china-over-mbappe-comments\/","title":{"rendered":"Real Madrid apologise to China over Mbappe comments"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Real<\/p>\n

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Real Madrid apologised to China on Wednesday for Kylian Mbappe\u2019s comments poking fun at Mao Zedong, after the star striker\u2019s remarks sparked a social media storm and saw Spanish football yanked off state TV.<\/p>\n

Mocking former leader Mao \u2014 blamed by historians for millions of deaths \u2014 is taboo in China, and Mbappe\u2019s remarks saw him become the latest foreign sports figure to anger Beijing.<\/p>\n

In a clip of a video interview with French show \u201cThe Bridge\u201d \u2014 since taken down \u2014 Mbappe talked about being amused by an internet meme of his face photoshopped onto \u201csome guy, think he\u2019s a Chinese dictator\u201d, an apparent reference to Mao.<\/p>\n

Real Madrid \u201cwishes to express its apologies to the Chinese people for any offence caused by the recent remarks of our player Kylian Mbappe\u201d, the club said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe club joins in the public apology issued by Kylian Mbappe, in which the player himself expressed his regret for his words and reiterated his respect for the Chinese people,\u201d the 15-time European champions said.<\/p>\n

The statement came a day after Mbappe issued his own apology, in French, Chinese and English, saying: \u201cMy comment was ill-judged and I now understand that it hurt many people in China and in Chinese communities around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told a regular briefing on Wednesday: \u201cWe take seriously the apology the individual concerned has made.\u201d<\/p>\n

La Liga, which saw the broadcast of its matches suspended in China, said Tuesday it \u201cdeeply regrets the offence that Kylian Mbappe\u2019s recent comments have caused among Chinese fans\u201d.<\/p>\n

Earlier, the state-run Global Times said in an editorial that it was \u201cnot difficult to see that the club\u2019s longstanding tolerance of such behavior has contributed to Mbappe\u2019s latest offensive remarks\u201d.<\/p>\n

Chinese beverage giant Dongpeng, which during this year\u2019s World Cup ran adverts with AI-generated images of Mbappe, said Tuesday it had scrapped its partnership with the player, as did dairy firms Mengniu and Milkground.<\/p>\n

CMG, which oversees public broadcaster CCTV, said it had decided to suspend broadcasts of La Liga, the world\u2019s second-richest football league after England\u2019s Premier League.<\/p>\n

Mbappe, 27, continued to face a torrent of criticism from Chinese web users on Wednesday, some of it racist.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis remarks were hurtful toward China and the Chinese people, so they cannot be translated,\u201d wrote one user on social media platform Weibo.<\/p>\n

Mbappe\u2019s original joke about Mao was not reposted \u2014 or had been scrubbed \u2014 from China\u2019s tightly controlled social media.<\/p>\n

Chinese social media app Xiaohongshu had meanwhile frozen Mbappe\u2019s account, where he has over a million followers.<\/p>\n

The same was done on the Weibo app, with a notice stating that \u201cthe user has been banned from following due to violating laws or the Weibo Community Convention\u201d.<\/p>\n

Some Chinese media reports said global brands like Dior and Hublot had removed\u00a0their Mbappe-related content on Weibo.<\/p>\n

An AFP search on Dior and Hublot\u2019s Weibo page with Mbappe\u2019s Chinese name produced no results.<\/p>\n

\u2013 \u2018Respect history\u2019 \u2013<\/h2>\n

Offline too the Mbappe brand appeared to be under threat.<\/p>\n

When AFP visited the Adidas flagship store in Beijing\u2019s Sanlitun shopping district, Real Madrid shirts were available for sale, but none bearing the striker\u2019s name.<\/p>\n

Chinese state media have previously praised Mbappe as a \u201cfootballing sensation\u201d and \u201ctalent\u201d.<\/p>\n

His face is plastered on billboards, on soft drinks and across social media.<\/p>\n

Mbappe is sometimes affectionately referred to as \u201cGuigui\u201d, meaning \u201cturtle\u201d in Chinese, for his resemblance to a character from the \u201cTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles\u201d movie.<\/p>\n

Other major overseas sports leagues have previously angered China.<\/p>\n

China suspended sponsorship deals with the NBA while the state broadcaster pulled NBA games off Chinese television for a year in October 2019.<\/p>\n

This followed Houston Rockets executive Daryl Morey tweeting \u201cFight for freedom, stand with Hong Kong\u201d, referring to protests Beijing called separatist and seditious.<\/p>\n

\u201cRespecting 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,\u201d the official People\u2019s Daily newspaper said in an opinion piece.<\/p>\n

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The post Real Madrid apologise to China over Mbappe comments<\/a> appeared first on Vanguard News<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Source: <\/p>\n

Vanguard News<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Real Madrid apologised to China on Wednesday for Kylian Mbappe\u2019s comments poking fun at Mao Zedong, after the star striker\u2019s remarks sparked a social media storm and saw Spanish football… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2243,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2242"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2242\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}