Kylian Mbappé has been at the heart of a lively controversy since his decision, Tuesday evening, to wear incorrectly – by partially masking it – the solidarity t-shirt intended to support the inhabitants of the Spanish enclave of Ceuta. This gesture, quickly spotted by observers, immediately triggered a lively controversy on the other side of the Pyrenees as in France. Faced with the media storm and the interpretations of his attitude, the French striker wanted to explain himself publicly to dispel any misunderstanding.
“I would first like to express all my solidarity with Ceuta and all the victims, he declared in an interview with the Spanish newspaper AS. But I also wanted to make a gesture and show my sympathy to all the migrants who lost their lives and to those who are still living in difficult conditions. You might think that I am against the inhabitants of Ceuta, but no, absolutely not. I have nothing against them, I support them 100%. But I wanted to think of all the people who are suffering, because after all, I am human, and I don’t want to prioritize suffering. »
Despite this clear clarification, the declarations and attitude of the captain of the France team were quickly taken up in the political arena. In the middle of the presidential campaign, many executives of the National Rally seized the subject to directly attack the French player, who has already been subject to numerous frictions with the far right in recent years. The reactions within the party to the flame were particularly virulent.
“Shameful”, “lamentable”, “disrespectful”
“If shame had a face, it would be that of Kylian Mbappé”, wrote the RN deputy for Eure Kévin Mauvieux on social networks. For his part, the spokesperson for the National Rally, Julien Odoul, described the behavior of Kylian Mbappé and his teammate Ibrahima Konaté as “
lamentable and disrespectful towards the suffering of the inhabitants of Ceuta”. The attacks also came from the highest political levels of the national right.
Marion Maréchal, who is taking a major role in the campaign of her aunt Marine Le Pen, favorite in the polls, also described this gesture as ” ashamed “. Directly attacking the player’s motivations, she publicly questioned: “Why this contempt? Why do they feel solidarity with all the suffering in the world, but never with that of Europeans? » This new sequel once again illustrates the extremely tense relations between Madrid’s number 9 and the French far-right political scene.
