Mbappé Loses Multiple Chinese Sponsorships Over Comment About Mao Zedong

A video just a few seconds long is proving costly for Kylian Mbappé in China. In an interview ahead of the French program "The Bridge," the Real Madrid forward was asked about his favorite meme of himself. He answered that it was "a video someone made of a guy... I think it was a Chinese dictator," right before the clip showed an altered image with his face on the body of Mao Zedong dressed in blue. That comment, which spread quickly on social media, has just come back to bite him in a big way.

Because it didn't stay confined to online controversy. Within hours, at least three Chinese brands decided to cut ties. On Tuesday, beverage maker Dongpeng, dairy giant Mengniu and cheese company Milkground announced, in almost identical wording, that they were ending their deals with the player. None of the three went into detail about exactly what triggered the split, but all three repeated nearly the same phrase: they reject "any word or action that hurts national sentiment."

RedNote, the social media platform, joined that list as well. In a separate statement, the company clarified that its content partnership with Mbappé had already ended on December 31, 2024, but took the opportunity to announce it would pull "related promotional materials" and voiced the same rejection of any conduct that "hurts national sentiment."

It's worth understanding why this lands so hard over there: Mbappé's face is a major presence in Chinese advertising. He has appeared in campaigns ranging from electrolyte drinks to milk and cheese. In one Dongpeng commercial he even recited a slogan in Chinese, and in a Mengniu ad he shared top billing with none other than Lionel Messi. In other words, this wasn't a minor sponsorship, it was part of an advertising strategy built up over time.

The reaction on Chinese social media was swift. The hashtags "Dongpeng ends partnership with Mbappé" and "Multiple brands end partnership with Mbappé" ranked among the top trending topics on Weibo. Also gaining traction was "Soccer fans boycott Mbappé," with users expressing anger over his remarks and some even telling him directly not to come to China.

For now, there has been no statement from the player or his camp about what happened. As it stands, the story is this: an off-the-cuff answer in an interview, an old meme that resurfaced at the worst possible moment, and three sponsorships (plus one platform) that fell away almost simultaneously. It remains to be seen whether Mbappé himself or his team will step forward to clarify the comment in the coming days.