Mbappe Loses Three Chinese Sponsors and Apologises After Mao Meme Clip

Kylian Mbappe has apologised after three Chinese companies ended their sponsorship deals with him in a single day, following a clip in which he appeared to laugh at a meme of his own face on Mao Zedong. Beverage maker Dongpeng, dairy giant Mengniu and cheese maker Milkground all announced on Tuesday that they were terminating their agreements with immediate effect, and Mbappe responded the same day by calling his comment ill-judged and saying he was sincerely sorry. The one fact that still needs care is the clip itself: AFP Fact Check notes its authenticity could not immediately be verified, which is why this article separates what the brands did, which is confirmed, from what the clip shows, which is reported.

What did the three brands actually say?

Each company used nearly identical language, and the similarity is part of the story. Dongpeng said it firmly opposes and has a zero-tolerance policy towards any behaviour that offends national sentiments, and that it was terminating all cooperation with Mbappe with immediate effect, AFP reports. Mengniu said the same in its own statement, adding that it firmly opposes any words or actions that hurt the feelings of the Chinese people. CNN reports Milkground, the cheese maker, announced its decision in similarly worded terms on the same day, with all three saying they oppose words and actions that hurt national sentiment.

The statements did not name the clip. CNN notes the companies did not specify what prompted their decisions, but released them after the clip circulated on X. That gap matters for readers: the timing points to the clip, the brands pointed to a principle, and neither side has published a longer explanation. What is not in doubt is the commercial consequence, which landed all at once rather than brand by brand over days.

What is in the clip, and what is still unverified?

The clip appears to show Mbappe being interviewed ahead of going on The Bridge, the French online talk show, CNN reports. Asked about his favourite meme of himself, he replies that it was a video someone made of a guy who he thought was a Chinese dictator, and the clip then shows an altered image of his face on the blue-suited body of Mao. AFP reports the same sequence, describing the meme as his face photo-shopped onto Mao, one of several memes using his face alongside other historical figures.

AFP Fact Check said the authenticity of the video could not immediately be verified, and that caveat stays attached to every description of it here. Fans online have joked for some time that Mbappe, who is said to overshadow teammates and even whole teams, is a dictator figure, CNN reports, and memes showing him as Mao or other autocratic leaders are widely circulated. The clip may be genuine, edited or misattributed, and none of the reporting reviewed for this article resolves that question. The sponsor decisions and the apology, by contrast, are documented in company statements and Mbappe’s own words.

What did Mbappe say in his apology?

He did not dispute the backlash or argue about the clip. “My comment was ill-judged, and I now understand that it hurt many people in China and in Chinese communities around the world,” he said in a statement on Tuesday, CNN reports. “I apologize to everyone my words have upset. This was absolutely not my intention. I have deep respect for the Chinese people and their history, and I am sincerely sorry.”

The apology is notable for what it concedes without re-litigating. It does not claim the clip was fake, and it does not ask the brands to reconsider. It treats the hurt as real regardless of the clip’s provenance, which is the only position available to him once three sponsors had already walked away. Whether the apology repairs anything commercially is a separate question, and there is no sign yet that any of the three brands intends to reverse its decision.

Why did this land so hard in China?

Because Mao is not a figure Chinese public life treats as fair game for jokes. AFP reports that jokes about Mao, the country’s founding leader who died in 1976, are considered disrespectful and remain a social taboo. The reaction followed the familiar pattern for this kind of controversy: “Dongpeng Beverage ends cooperation with Mbappe” became the top-trending topic on Weibo, AFP reports, and CNN adds that “Several brands end partnerships with Mbappe” and “Football fans boycott Mbappe” also trended, with some users telling him not to come to China.

Chinese football outlet Dongqiudi weighed in on Monday evening, before the brand announcements, saying the remarks were offensive to China and the Chinese people and had hurt the feelings of Chinese football fans, AFP reports. China’s foreign ministry then added the official layer on Tuesday, with spokesperson Guo Jiakun saying words and actions that hurt the feelings of the Chinese people will naturally be met with joint opposition from all sectors of Chinese society, CNN reports. Social platform RedNote joined in as well, saying its content partnership with Mbappe had ended on December 31, 2024, that it would remove related promotional materials, and his account was banned from accepting new followers on Tuesday.

How much is Mbappe actually losing in China?

More than three logos on a page. CNN reports his face appears in advertising across China, from subway stations to inside elevators. In one Dongpeng commercial he delivers a slogan in Chinese, and in a Mengniu ad he appears alongside Lionel Messi, whose own farewell tour has drawn viral crowds this month. Mengniu partnered with him ahead of the 2022 World Cup, AFP reports, and AI-generated images of him drinking a Dongpeng sports drink were regularly shown in China during this year’s World Cup.

He is also, by AFP’s account, hugely popular with Chinese fans, with millions of followers on social media and the fond nickname “Guigui”, the Chinese translation of Turtle, from a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles meme. That popularity is what makes the speed of the break so striking: the same audience that made him a marketing asset in China is the audience the brands moved to placate. The deals were built on his image there, and the image, in the brands’ judgement, changed overnight.

Had Mbappe talked about the dictator meme before?

Yes, and his earlier answer makes the new apology read differently. In September, in an interview with French sports newspaper L’Equipe, he addressed a previous meme depicting him as a military dictator, AFP reports. “There’s a part of it that’s funny. You can tell that, for some people, it’s all in good fun. But there is another part that’s a bit less funny because of the damage such people have caused throughout history,” he said. “Being compared to individuals who murder others, or who have brought misery to millions upon millions of people, well, I don’t think I’ve ever done anything like that in my life.”

That September answer drew a line between laughing at a meme and endorsing the comparison. The October clip, as circulated, appears to cross it, by naming the meme the funniest he had seen. The difference between those two moments is the whole controversy in miniature: a player who had already thought publicly about why the joke was uncomfortable, then appearing to enjoy it anyway. His Tuesday apology closes that gap by calling the comment ill-judged, without revisiting the September reasoning.

What happens next for Mbappe and Real Madrid?

The commercial fallout is probably not finished, even though the three announcements came together. Other Chinese partners, broadcast arrangements and his social media presence in China are all still open questions, and none of the reporting reviewed here says whether further brands are reviewing their deals. The sporting calendar does not pause for it either: Mbappe had already had a bruising week before Tuesday, having lost out to Harry Kane in the men’s Ballon d’Or race at Monday’s ceremony, AFP reports, and Real Madrid’s season continues with the forward still central to it, as he was when he scored twice against Sevilla with a turn goal and a Panenka.

The precedent here is the one AFP cites at the end of its report. Global sports stars who have commented on sensitive topics such as Taiwan, Tibet and Hong Kong have previously caused controversy in China and been dumped by sponsors there, including former NBA player Dwight Howard in 2023 and Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey in 2019, whose tweet supporting Hong Kong protests led to China suspending sponsorship deals with the NBA and pulling games off television for a year. Mbappe’s case fits that pattern in one respect and breaks it in another: the sponsor response was just as fast, but it came with an apology on the same day, which neither of those earlier cases produced. Madrid stars have been at the centre of off-field storms before, as Cristiano Ronaldo’s statement accusing Portugal coach Jorge Jesus of breaking promises showed earlier this month. Whether speed of apology changes the outcome is the question his remaining partners will now answer, and Vinicius Junior’s own recent red-card controversy showed how quickly a Madrid star’s week can become a referendum on conduct. For now, the verified picture is narrow and stark: three deals gone, one apology issued, and one clip still unverified.