Mbappé, Mao and China: How a Football Meme Sparked a Political Firestorm

Yeah, there was one, the one I laughed the most at was when we put up a video of some guy, I think it was a Chinese dictator. They had put my, I use it a lot with my friends online, to call him. This is Mbappé's anti-China remark. 24 hours later, this world-class star was completely erased from the Chinese internet. The funny thing is, amidst all the calls for his head on mainland social media platforms, most Chinese people actually have no idea what Mbappé even said. In the comment sections, it's other people telling others to use a VPN to get around the firewall, or people speaking in riddles and using code words. What's even more suspicious is that this video was actually recorded 6 months ago, yet it was whipped into a frenzy on October 26th. Why? Today, we'll spend 25 minutes taking you through this viral, Mbappe-insulting China incident. The ins and outs, who's pushing it, and the major suspicious points of this incident. If you value your time and want to understand the full picture of trending topics in one go, please subscribe to True Viewpoint. We specialize in 20-25 minute series that take you through everything at once. The interview at the beginning is from a French YouTube talk show. The host is Chua Menni, who is Mbappé's teammate on both the French national team and Real Madrid, so the whole atmosphere of the show is just buddies joking around. The host asks, which of the memes about you online is the funniest? It's that they had put up a video of a guy, I think it was a Chinese dictator, they had put him up. Mbappé's face was photoshopped onto Mao Zedong wearing a Zhongshan suit. Note that Mbappé never actually said the name Mao Zedong from start to finish. The image shown was inserted by the production team. But there's also this Mbappé, this Mbappé, and this Mbappé. Because when Mbappé was playing for Paris Saint-Germain back then, his playing style was sharp, and he was the star player, so he had a lot of say in both the club and the national team. It's said that, you know, changing coaches, picking teammates, rumors had it that he was the one calling the shots. so he happily earned the nickname Dictator Mbappe. Later, netizens started photoshopping his face onto various dictators. Kim Jong Un, Stalin, Gaddafi, Mobutu, and of course, Mao Zedong. In August 2023, someone even went as far as making a video, releasing an Mbappe version of The Sun in the Sky is Red, which racked up over 200,000 views on X. The sun in the sky is red, oh so red, the sun in the sky is Mao Zedong. Look at us, happy, and joyful, the people are the masters of their own destiny." By this summer, during the World Cup, this meme exploded in popularity, with AI-generated derivative images filling the screen. During the match between France and Senegal, even in the stands, there appeared an AI-generated version of Dictator Mbappe in a military uniform. And Mbappe himself has actually known about this meme for a while now. A little over a month ago, in September, he specifically mentioned it in an interview with France Football Magazine. He said that this meme is half funny and half not, because we know how much harm these types of people have caused in history. Comparing me to those who kill and make millions suffer? I've never done anything like that in my life. He doesn't like it when fans compare him to dictators from history who killed people and made millions suffer. That unfortunately, those memes are just too funny. So in that interview, he spoke about it, and then the CCP went into a frenzy. Late that night, Dongxiu Di was the first to issue a statement, claiming that Mbappe's remarks were hurtful to China and the Chinese people, and they refused to translate them. Then, Hupu deleted Mbappe's Ballon d'Or ranking, because earlier that day, the Ballon d'Or was awarded in London, and Mbappe had lost to England captain Kane, placing second. Now, if you look at the 2026 Ballon d'Or rankings posted by Dongxiu Di, Mbappe has been marked as not found. Immediately after, state media stepped in. CCTV ordered an overnight halt to all broadcasts involving Mbappé and La Liga matches, and all his advertisements were pulled as well. By the morning of the 27th, the news had already reached the business sector. East Rock Superdrink was the first to terminate their contract, with Mengnu and Milkground following suit immediately. Even though their partnership had already expired, Xiaohongshu rushed to ban his account. Dior, Anta, and Hublot all removed promotional materials related to Mbappé. But it didn't end there. Subsequently, Mbappé's name became taboo. You couldn't find any search results for Mbappe on the apps or Weibo accounts of CCTV News, People's Daily, or Xinhua News Agency. On the afternoon of the 27th, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs characterized this ban as hurting national sentiment. From self-censorship in sports communities, to CCTV's total halt, to the collective distancing by commercial brands, the information erasure by state media, and all the way to the political verdict from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, this entire combination of moves took only 24 hours, leaving no room for anyone to catch their breath. Could such uniform and thunderous actions really be the result of a joint boycott by the Little Pinks? The Chinese people who are being represented as angry probably haven't even figured out what they're supposed to be angry about yet. One netizen said, even if you play soccer really well, you can't stand above the bottom line. Although I don't know who Mbappe is, seeing so many companies partnering with him tells me that the star must have been extraordinary. And at the same time, I know his comments this time really did cross the line. It's just that I've been looking for a long time and still can't figure out what exactly Mbappé said. Can someone tell me? Others are asking, what exactly did he say? Can't we all just condemn him together? Some also said they searched everywhere and still don't know what he said. It's the first time I've seen someone get cancelled without any reason given. Now, inside the Great Firewall, there's even information arbitrage appearing, where people are paying 4.90 yuan to find out what Mbappé actually said. Well, if you can't get an answer, just ask AI. A netizen who doesn't really Follow Soccer posted saying, woke up this morning and only knew that Mbappé made some inappropriate remarks and got dropped by his sponsors, but I have no idea what he actually said. Asked Dobao and it wouldn't say either, so Dobao won't tell. Oh wait, an AI did speak up. Weibo has an official AI auto reply bot called Comment Robert, and it has nearly 2 million followers. A netizen posted on Weibo asking it, what did Mbappé do? What did he say that was wrong? And it turns out this Comment Robert generated a voice reply underneath saying, he just told the truth. Some people just don't like to hear it. Oh my, that answer is absolutely savage. Some media outlets are even more ridiculous. There's an article on NetEase titled, What Mbappe Said, The Truth Is Finally Revealed. Man, everyone really wants to know what the truth actually is. You click on it and he beats around the bush, and the last sentence is, I won't repeat Mbappe's full words here. On Sina Finance, there's another article saying that the original link to that image can no longer be found online, claiming there are vaguely sensitive political symbols in the background. Well, surely someone has jumped a firewall to watch the original video, right? They want to tell the people inside the firewall, but they can't say it directly. So what do they do? And so, a relay of coded language began. Some said he insulted the chairman. Others said a meme of the great man's portrait was photoshopped with his expression. And since the great man is a DC dictator, some just typed the letters DCZ, while others played with homophones, writing it directly as Ducaija, claiming Mbappe said Ducaija. If you didn't get it, you'd just think the vegetables got folded. Some self-media outlets had headlines like, Rumor! Mbappe Insults the Chairman. And even more clever one was this sentence, Tang Guoqiang is an art student. The comments below all seem to get it, but honestly, at first glance, I didn't understand it at all. Tang Guoqiang has played Mao Zedong over 40 times, and is the most famous actor in the country for portraying Mao. Therefore, Tang Guoqiang is a reference to Mao Zedong. So what's the deal with art student? Well, it refers to Hitler. Because when Hitler was young, he applied to the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts and failed. So he's called the failed art student. Therefore, art student refers to dictators like Hitler. put it all together, and it means Mao Zedong is a dictator. What do you think of this reply? You've gotta give this person credit for their knowledge, right? Give me a like to let me know. Some friends even offered Mbappe some advice, saying the only way out for him now is to buy a Mate X5 and hand it over to Huawei to smooth this whole thing over. So this is undoubtedly the funniest, yet most absurd scene triggered by this whole incident. Those who don't know can't get a straight answer, and those who do know are afraid to call him a dictator. For one, they fear getting banned by the platform, for another, wouldn't saying it out loud make them accomplices in promoting or reinforcing the idea that Mao Zedong was a dictator? How embarrassing this must be for the current leader, Xi Jinping, who reveres Mao Zedong as his guiding light. So those in the know are all forced to speak in riddles, and the whole nation has entered an era of masquerades. It really is a bizarre spectacle. So a question arises. If so many Chinese people can't even figure out what Mbappe said, then what's with all the clamorous shouting and calls for blood on social media? What exactly is going on with all that clamorous shouting and calls for blood on social media? Let's first look at who is shouting the loudest. Guangming Daily posted, No matter how good your skills, you cannot trample on the bottom line. No matter how famous, you cannot act recklessly. No matter how high your traffic, you cannot place yourself above respect. On the same day, the paper published a media commentary, fiercely criticizing Mbappe for biting the hand that feeds him. The parallel sentences used were almost word-for-word identical to those in the Guangming Daily. It was the exact same copy, just posted on a different platform. Now let's look at the three brands that terminated their contracts. Mengniu's largest shareholder is the state-owned enterprise, Kafka. And the controlling shareholder, Milkground, is Mengniu, holding nearly 37% of the shares. In other words, out of the three companies that were the first to terminate their contracts with Mbappe, two of them are part of the same family. And behind them stands the state-owned asset Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) of the CCP. So from platforms, to CCTV, to the media, and then to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and state-owned brands, the so-called public outrage on social media all comes from the same voice, the official CCP. Now speaking of this, I have to bring up another suspicious point. This remark insulting Mao actually happened half a year ago. U.S. sports media reported that the recording can be traced back to early April of this year. Furthermore, the outfit Mbappe is wearing is the same one from that long video, meaning Mbappe recorded this so-called insult to Morey remark in a dressing room over six months ago while filming that long video. Over the past six months, especially during the World Cup, the Mbappe the dictator meme was flying everywhere. In September, he even gave a special magazine interview where he talked about this meme. Yet during this entire period, the CCP didn't make a peep. Just think about it. short behind-the-scenes clip recorded over half a year ago, yet it was deliberately held back until October 26th, the day of the Ballon d'Or ceremony, to be released. Furthermore, Mbappé didn't even mention a specific dictator's name in it. Theoretically, it could have been Chun Shih-Wang, yet the footage was edited with specific memes. Just a few hours later, Dong Chi-Di was the first to ignite the situation, claiming the original words couldn't be translated. Immediately after, the authorities stepped in to define the narrative. The whole operation was smooth and seamless, a well-coordinated combo that happened so fast it left everyone reeling. I'm just puzzled. The timing of this interview isn't even clear, and the person involved didn't name anyone, yet the media was the first to identify the target for him. So did Mbappe actually mess up and put his foot in his mouth? Or did someone pick a convenient time to dig up this old footage, essentially creating a PR bomb that could be detonated with precision at any moment? And on October 26, Beijing happened to be holding a major conference, the 5th plenary session, which lasted four days and focused on comprehensively strengthening party discipline. It was on the evening of that very day that the Mbappe incident exploded domestically, and by the next day the entire internet was bashing this French player. So this joke from six months ago turned into a nationwide firestorm on that specific day. Friends, what do you think? If you think this is just a coincidence, type coincidence for me. If you think someone is orchestrating this, using it as a pretext, type orchestrated for me. As for this matter, regarding what kind of consequences Mbappe will face, there is a precedent. During the 2019 Hong Kong anti-extradition bill protest, Daryl Morey, the general manager of the NBA's Houston Rockets at the time, posted a tweet saying he stood with Hong Kong, which also triggered strong dissatisfaction from the CCP. At that time, CCTV and Tencent immediately stopped broadcasting Rockets games, and the Rockets' commercial partnerships in China were all severed overnight. The Rockets' owner knelt down immediately, and later the players followed suit. However, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver was actually quite firm, stating that we would not apologize for Morey exercising his freedom of speech. If we have to pay such a price for upholding our values, then we must uphold them. CCTV immediately stopped broadcasting all NBA games at the time, declaring that they would not resume broadcasts unless Morey was punished. As it turned out, Morey wasn't punished for a single day. A year later, he left the Rockets and jumped ship to become the president of the 76ers. And a year later, CCTV quietly resumed NBA broadcasts, citing that they had noticed the NBA continuing to express goodwill. Morey remained the president of the 76ers all the same. Later, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver did the math and found that over the course of two years, they had lost just under 400 million US dollars because of this incident. But he said that their business in China hadn't suffered permanent damage. However, the ones who really lost out were Tencent, who had spent 1.5 billion dollars to buy the five-year streaming rights, and the hundreds of millions of Chinese fans. So this time, we'll likely have a similar outcome, and in the end, the ones footing the bill will be the Chinese fans. Dong Peng only just signed Mbappé as an endorser this April, and Mbappé himself probably won't be affected much by losing a few Chinese partnerships. However, there is one party that got hurt, La Liga. La Liga is the Spanish football league, and both Real Madrid and Barcelona are in it. The decade when Messi and Ronaldo had their peak rivalry was right there in La Liga. Now, Mbappé as a Real Madrid player spoke a hard truth, and it ended up triggering the CCP's fragile ego. Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, and all 20 teams in La Liga have to suffer through the broadcast suspension along with them. However, what CCTV suspended was the free broadcast on television, and that contract actually expired this season anyway. And this summer, China Mobile Migu just signed the exclusive online rights for La Liga for the next four seasons, so for many matches, you'll need to buy a membership to watch them. So far, Migu has only deleted content and highlights featuring Mbappe, but they haven't suspended the broadcast of La Liga matches. On the afternoon of the 27th, La Liga president Tebas wrote a letter of apology to the head of CCTV. CCTV replied in the name of its director with just one sentence, Apologize first, otherwise there's nothing to talk about. They also specifically demanded a public apology from La Liga, Real Madrid, and especially Mbappé himself, and required a separate written letter of apology. Following that, China News Service posted a Weibo update with the headline Mbappé. Honestly, I really despise this kind of low-class behavior from Chinese state media, acting like street thugs hurling insults. It's truly embarrassing. Friends, if you feel the same way, let me know in the comments. That same evening, Mbappé posted a statement on X in three languages, French, English, and a simplified Chinese version, saying, In a recent interview, I responded to an image featuring me and my comments were inappropriate. I now understand that these words hurt many people in China and in Chinese communities around the world. As an overseas Chinese, I must say I wasn't offended at all. Then he said, I apologize to everyone who was hurt by my comments. That was never my intention. I hold deep respect for the Chinese people and their history, and I am truly sorry. Friends, take note. He's apologizing for hurting many people, not for saying the wrong thing. He didn't retract the word dictator, nor did he mention Mao Zedong. He said he respects the Chinese people and their history. But what has actually happened in this history, and what is happening right now? He already said that back in September, so I imagine he has a deeper understanding of it now. But unfortunately, this kind of apology doesn't seem to have had the effect he expected. CCTV did not mention resuming broadcast. They only responded by saying they would listen to his words and watch his actions, demanding a sincere apology and for him to mend his ways. The Chinese Football Association also stated that they have lodged solemn representations with Real Madrid, demanding a formal public apology from the player and the club. But Real Madrid hasn't said a word so far. And under Mbappe's apology post on Weibo, it has now been taken over by Little Pinks, With nothing but a uniform chorus of The Chinese people do not accept your apology On the other side, Western society is also dissatisfied with Mbappe's apology With the most significant weight coming from the U.S. Congress The U.S. House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party posted on X Stating that Mao Zedong was indeed a dictator And the harm he caused to the Chinese people was far more severe than the remarks of a soccer player The post stated that Mao Zedong led the CCP for decades And his dictatorial rule and catastrophic policies led to the deaths of tens of millions of Chinese people due to the Cultural Revolution, the Great Famine, and other atrocities. For decades, the CCP has deprived the Chinese people of basic human rights, including freedom of speech and freedom of religion, rights that Mbappe and millions of people around the world enjoy. Therefore, Mbappe should use this opportunity to expose the horrific truth of Mao Zedong's dictatorship. This means that not only should he not apologize, but he should go right ahead and keep speaking out. The committee also made a point, stating that what is truly outrageous about this matter is that some companies are rushing to apologize just to continue doing business in China, and those companies cooperating with the CCP are normalizing the CCP's atrocities. An article in the long-standing British magazine The Spectator has a very direct title. Mbappé was right about Mao Zedong, so why should he apologize? The article says that the CCP regime becomes completely irrational whenever Mao Zedong is mentioned, and it also took a jab at Mbappé's apology. He said that he has deep respect for the Chinese people and their history. But back in the original interview, he didn't even seem to remember who Mao Zedong was. Another author is even more interesting. In his column, he wrote an article titled How Wonderful It Would Be If Mbappe Hadn't Apologized. He simply rewrote an ideal apology letter for Mbappe, which goes like this. I recently commented on a meme that photoshopped my face onto Mao Zedong's, and I referred to him as some Chinese dictator. I understand that some people were annoyed by my words, but Mao Zedong was indeed a dictator, just as Hitler, Stalin, and Pol Pot were all dictators. Just because the truth is uncomfortable doesn't mean it suddenly stops being the truth. As for Mbappé's apology, friends, what do you think? Share your thoughts in the comments and let's discuss it together. Some say Mbappé is too naive and doesn't understand the nature of the CCP and the Little Pinks at all. This group is never going to forgive him just because he apologized. After all, once a glass heart is shattered, how could it ever be glued back together? Once you've insulted China, you've insulted China for life. The result is that Mbappé ends up pleasing neither side. For the little pinks, they will never be able to support him again. And for those who support democracy and universal values, they will also look down on him for his cowardice because of this. As for bowing down for a few pieces of silver, I don't think it's that serious. Because Mbappe didn't actually apologize for his remarks. He only said he apologized for hurting some people's feelings. So I think that's a bit of an overstatement. So friends, what do you think? Leave a comment and share your thoughts with me. Alright, that's all for today. It really hasn't been easy. Mbappe in the north and Kevin Tsai in the south, the CCP really can't catch a break anywhere. How long will La Liga be suspended for? Will Real Madrid bow down to the CCP? We will continue to follow this. Subscribe to TrueView and I'll share the latest updates with you in short videos as soon as they happen. Alright, that's all for today. Thanks for watching everyone and don't forget to subscribe to TrueView. If you haven't liked the video yet, please go ahead and do so. Share my video with more friends so that more people can get the full picture of these hot topics in just 20 to 25 minutes. This series is our main focus and and I'd really appreciate it if you could help spread the word. So, Genevieve would like to thank you all in advance. Alright, thanks for watching, everyone. We'll see you at the same time this Thursday on TrueView. Bye!