French football star Kylian Mbappe has lost endorsement deals with two major Chinese companies following the circulation of a video in which he appeared to joke about former Chinese leader Mao Zedong.
Jokes about Mao, China’s founding leader who died in 1976, are widely regarded as disrespectful and remain a social taboo in the country.
Drinks manufacturer Dongpeng announced its decision in a statement, saying, “Our company firmly opposes and has a zero-tolerance policy towards any behaviour that offends national sentiments,” adding that “with immediate effect we are terminating all cooperation with Kylian Mbappe.”
AI-generated adverts featuring the 27-year-old France captain drinking Dongpeng sports beverages had been regularly displayed in China during this year’s World Cup.
Mengniu, China’s largest dairy producer, also ended its partnership with the Real Madrid forward, who had enjoyed immense popularity among Chinese fans, attracting millions of social media followers.
Mbappe is affectionately known as “Guigui,” the Chinese translation of “Turtle,” inspired by a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles meme featuring the footballer.
“With immediate effect, our company is terminating all cooperation with Kylian Mbappe,” Mengniu said in a statement.
“Mengniu firmly opposes and has a zero-tolerance policy towards any words or actions that hurt the feelings of the Chinese people,” it added.
The companies’ decisions followed the emergence of a video in which Mbappe reportedly described as his funniest internet meme an image of his face superimposed on “some guy — I think he’s a Chinese dictator.”
The remark appeared to reference a meme depicting Mbappe alongside Mao, part of a series combining the footballer’s face with images of historical figures.
AFP Fact Check could not immediately verify the video’s authenticity.
“Dongpeng Beverage ends cooperation with Mbappe” became the leading trending topic on Chinese social media platform Weibo.
One user described the remarks as “extremely serious wrong remarks… crossed the red line. They are completely unacceptable.”
Other users called on Dongpeng to remove Mbappe’s image from its energy drink bottles.
