Tough evening for Kylian Mbappé. While he was in the race to win his first Ballon d’Or, the captain of the France team had the precious trophy stolen from him by Harry Kane, at the end of a particularly close vote. At the same time, the Bondynois found himself involved in a gigantic controversy in China.
The reason? In a video published by “The Bridge”, Aurélien Tchouaméni’s podcast, Kylian Mbappé reacts to the numerous “memes” of which he is the subject on social networks. He notably evokes the one where he is depicted in “Chinese dictator”. But on the side of Beijing, we did not at all appreciate that Mao Zedong, leader of the country for many decades, was described as a “dictator”.
Mbappé forced to calm things down
As a result, many Chinese sponsors have chosen to cut ties with Mbappé, and are reportedly threatening to do the same with Real Madrid or La Liga. A form of industrial disaster, given the size of the Chinese market.
This controversy forced Mbappé to come out of silence this Tuesday noon to apologize. “During a recent interview, I reacted to an image of myself portraying myself. This comment was clumsy and I understand today that it hurt many people in China and within the Chinese community around the world. writes the French attacker.
“I apologize to all those who were offended by my words. That was absolutely not my intention. I have deep respect for the Chinese people and their history, and I am sincerely sorry. »
