MADRID.- He real Madrid apologized on Wednesday to China for the comments of his stellar French attacker Kylian Mbappé about the former leader Mao Zedong, which unleashed a storm of criticism.
Mocking Zedong remains taboo half a century after the death of the historic leader, which is why several Chinese brands have stopped sponsoring the French striker and state television suspended broadcasts of Spanish LaLiga.
“Real Madrid wishes to express its apologies to the Chinese people for the discomfort that the recent words of our player Kylian Mbappé may have caused,” the club wrote in a statement.
“Our club maintains a deep respect for China, its history, its culture and its citizens, as well as for the millions of Chinese fans who feel love and admiration for Real Madrid,” added the team, considered the largest in the world.
His message adds to the one the French star issued the day before for saying that the funniest meme he has seen on the internet is the one in which his face appears superimposed on the body of “some random guy”, who believed he was “a Chinese dictator”, in an apparent reference to Zedong.
“I apologize to all those who have offended my words (…) I am sincerely sorry,” the player declared in a statement on Tuesday.
In response, the spokesperson for Chinese Foreign Ministry Guo Jiakun He stated that the country takes “seriously the apology presented by the person in question.”
LaLiga, the Spanish soccer championship, on Tuesday regretted Mbappé’s comment and apologized to “all those who have felt offended.”
The video in which Mbappé’s joke was recorded could not be shared or was deleted from Chinese social networks, which are under strict control, while state media omitted any reference to Zedong.
Instead, they claimed the footballer had made “inappropriate comments about China.”
Blocked
However, the footballer continued to face an avalanche of criticism this Wednesday.
“His comments were offensive towards China and the Chinese people, so they cannot be translated,” one person wrote on the platform. Weibo.
The social network Xiaohongshualso known as RedNote or the Chinese Instagramsuspended Mbappé’s account, where he has more than a million followers.
The same thing happened in Weibowhere a notice states that “the user was blocked because he violated the laws or the Weibo Community Agreement“.
Some Chinese media reports indicate that global brands such as Dior and Hublot They removed their content related to Mbappé on Weibo.
An AFP search of the profiles on that platform of the two luxury brands with the Chinese name of Mbappé did not yield results.
Furthermore, when AFP visited the flagship store of adidas in the commercial district of Sanlitun, in Beijingthere were Real Madrid shirts for sale, but none with the name of the French star.
Mbappé products, including unofficial t-shirts and caps, remain available on the e-commerce giant Taobao.
Chinese state media had previously praised Mbappé as a “football sensation” and a “talent” much loved by the country’s fans.
His face appears on billboards, on electrolyte drinks and all over social media.
Mbappé is also sometimes affectionately known as “Guigui,” which means “turtle” in Mandarin, because of his resemblance to a character in the movie “Ninja Turtles.”
