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Two major Chinese brands have ended their partnerships with Kylian Mbappe after a video circulated online in which the French football star appeared to joke about former Chinese leader Mao Zedong.
Drinks company Dongpeng announced on Tuesday that it was ending its partnership with the Real Madrid and France forward.
“Our company firmly opposes and has a zero-tolerance policy towards any behaviour that offends national sentiments,” Dongpeng said in a statement. It added that “with immediate effect we are terminating all cooperation with Kylian Mbappe”.
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Mengniu, China’s largest dairy producer, also announced that it was cutting ties with the 27-year-old footballer.
“With immediate effect our company is terminating all cooperation with Kylian Mbappe,” the company said.
“Mengniu firmly opposes and has a zero-tolerance policy towards any words or actions that hurt the feelings of the Chinese people,” it added.
The decisions followed the circulation of a video in which Mbappe reportedly described a meme featuring his face as the funniest internet meme he had seen.
In the video, he said the image showed his face photoshopped onto that of “some guy — I think he’s a Chinese dictator”.
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The comment appeared to refer to a meme showing Mbappe’s face superimposed on an image of Mao Zedong. Several similar memes feature the footballer alongside historical figures. However, AFP Fact Check said it could not immediately verify the video’s authenticity.
The controversy quickly gained attention on Chinese social media platform Weibo. “Dongpeng Beverage ends cooperation with Mbappe” became the platform’s top-trending topic.
The developments came a day after Mbappe lost the Ballon d’Or to Bayern Munich striker Harry Kane on Monday.
