Real Madrid issued an apology to China after Kylian Mbappe’s comments about Mao Zedong sparked a commercial and diplomatic firestorm that saw Spanish football yanked from state television and the French superstar dumped by multiple sponsors.
Also read: Mbappe dropped by Chinese brands after Mao comments spark fury
“Real Madrid wishes to express its apologies to the Chinese people for any offence caused by the recent remarks of our player Kylian Mbappe,” the 15-time European champions said in a statement. “The club joins in the public apology issued by Kylian Mbappe, in which the player himself expressed his regret for his words and reiterated his respect for the Chinese people.”
The statement came a day after Mbappe issued his own mea culpa in French, Chinese and English. “My comment was ill-judged and I now understand that it hurt many people in China and in Chinese communities around the world,” the 27-year-old wrote.
Foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun acknowledged the apology on Wednesday, telling reporters: “We take seriously the apology the individual concerned has made.”
Commercial carnage
Beverage giant Dongpeng, terminated its partnership immediately. Dairy firms Mengniu and Milkground followed suit.
CMG, which oversees public broadcaster CCTV, suspended broadcasts of La Liga entirely, a devastating blow for the world’s second-richest football league. La Liga’s scrambled response admitted it “deeply regrets the offence that Kylian Mbappe’s recent comments have caused among Chinese fans,” but the damage was done.
State-run Global Times twisted the knife, editorialising that “the club’s longstanding tolerance of such behaviour has contributed to Mbappe’s latest offensive remarks.”
Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu froze Mbappe’s account, where he boasts over a million followers. Weibo did likewise, with a notice stating the “user has been banned from following due to violating laws or the Weibo Community Convention.” The original clip vanished.
Reports suggest global brands like Dior and Hublot have purged Mbappe-related content from their Chinese social media presence. A search on their Weibo pages for Mbappe’s Chinese name produced nothing.
Offline erasure
The erasure extended beyond digital platforms. The Adidas flagship store in Beijing’s Sanlitun shopping district, still have Real Madrid shirts for sale, but none bearing Mbappe’s name or number.
It’s a stunning reversal for a player Chinese media previously lauded as a “footballing sensation” and “talent.” His face adorned billboards, soft drinks and social media. Fans affectionately nicknamed him “Guigui”—meaning “turtle”—after his resemblance to a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles character.
That goodwill evaporated overnight, replaced by vitriol, some of it racist, from Chinese web users. “His remarks were hurtful toward China and the Chinese people, so they cannot be translated,” wrote one Weibo user.
Mbappe’s apologies may eventually thaw relations, but the damage to his Chinese brand is profound. Whether Real Madrid and La Liga can repair the commercial carnage remains to be seen.
