The recent reports about Kylian Mbappé and his jokes about Mao Zedong have hardly gone unnoticed. Now the scandal has reached France’s political circles.
Marine Tondelier, leader of the Green Party, writes on X that Mbappé was absolutely right to call Mao Zedong a dictator.
"The tens of millions of deaths for which Mao is responsible, as well as the totalitarian nature of his regime, are things all historians agree on," she writes, among other things.
On the talk show "The Bridge," Mbappé was asked what his favorite "meme" was. The 27-year-old star replied that it was a video showing his head on Mao Zedong’s body, or, as Mbappé himself put it: "I think he was a Chinese dictator."
Criticism from China was swift. The state-run television channel has stopped broadcasting La Liga matches, and several major companies have cut ties with Mbappé. Mbappé, his club Real Madrid and La Liga have apologized in an attempt to appease China.
“They have major economic interests in China and believe there is a lot to lose and little to gain by taking a more principled stance in defence of freedom of expression,” Björn Jerdén, head of the National Knowledge Center on China at the Swedish Institute for International Affairs, told TT.
