What Is Behind The Business Spat Between China And Soccer Superstar Kylian Mbappé?

Kylian Mbappé featured in a Chinese advertising campaign. GETTY IMAGESA dispute involving between French soccer player Kylian Mbappé, who plays for Spanish giants Real Madrid, and China was triggered after Mbappé supposedly disparaging references to former Chinese leader Chairman Mao.Mbappé, known for his commanding presence on the soccer field, has long been the subject of viral internet memes branding the Frenchman a dictator. In such memes, his face is often superimposed onto that of recognizable autocrats, including Soviet leader Josef Stalin, Ugandan strongman Idi Amin and former Chinese Communist Party leader Mao Zedong.Responding to the memes on a French podcast called The Bridge, Mbappe said that he found the jokes which saw his face superimposed onto Mao's, who he refers to as "a Chinese dictator," the most amusing.Backlash was swift; the clip has since been taken down but Beijing has stopped broadcasting matches of the Spanish soccer league, La Liga, and Chinese social media Xiaohongshu has frozen Mbappé's account.Chinese companies Dongpeng, Mengniu and Milkground have also all announced that they were scrapping their commercial partnerships with the athlete."My comment was ill-judged, and I now understand that it hurt many people in China and in Chinese communities around the world," Mbappé said in a statement on Tuesday,.La Liga and Real Madrid have also apologized in the aftermath of the controversy."LALIGA deeply regrets the offence that Kylian Mbappé's recent comments have caused among Chinese fans ... respect, coexistence and unity among people of all cultures are fundamental values of Spanish football. Guided by these principles, we reaffirm our respect for China, its institutions and its people," the league posted in an official press statement on Tuesday."Real Madrid C. F. wishes to express its apologies to the Chinese people for any discomfort that may have been caused by the recent words of our player Kylian Mbappé," the Spanish club also said on Wednesday.However, many Chinese social media users were unaware of what Mbappé had actually said, as censorship largely censored any mention of the footballer's specific criticism of Mao.Mao founded the People's Republic of China, of which he was Chairman between 1949 and 1959, after defeating the Chinese nationalists in the Chinese Civil War. He is revered in China, whose government cracks down on criticism of communist party leaders such as Mao.Although his leadership is associated with major developments of the Chinese economy from a war-torn agrarian state to a more modern, industrialized one, his policies and dictatorial rule are widely seen as responsible for causing the deaths of millions of people.The "Great Leap Forward" - a campaign promoting mass industrialization - and the "Cultural Revolution" - a campaign designed to purge supposedly "capitalist" elements from Chinese society - are associated with, cumulatively, tens of millions of deaths.Given this context, some came out in support of Mbappé's comments and said that he should not apologize for them."International soccer star Kylian Mbappé should not apologize for calling Mao Zedong a dictator. Mao was a dictator, and by orders of magnitude, he did more harm to the Chinese people than a comment from a soccer player ever could," the U.S. House Select Committee on China posted on Tuesday.Mbappé could potentially lose up to $30 million in yearly sponsorship revenue as a result of the dispute. According to Spanish outlet El Mundo, 40% (over $830 million) of the revenue that La Liga earns from broadcasting rights comes from international markets, the majority of which comes from the Chinese and U.S. markets.The future of the Chinese portion of this revenue stream remains unclear.