Mbappé’s Mao Meme Costs La Liga the Chinese Market
Trending Topics auf Google als bevorzugte Nachrichtenquelle festlegen.
One laugh at a meme is enough, and Europe’s second most important football league disappears from the largest TV market in the world.
For two weekends now, China’s state broadcaster CCTV has shown no Spanish La Liga matches. On Sunday, Racing Santander against Real Madrid was missing from the schedule as well, even though, or precisely because, Kylian Mbappé scored. The reason is a video that went viral in late October: In an episode of the French podcast „The Bridge,“ recorded in the spring, the Real striker says the funniest meme about him shows his face on „some guy, I think he’s a Chinese dictator,“ and laughs. He meant Mao Zedong. What passes for a harmless anecdote in Europe is a taboo in China, and the reaction followed within hours.
What Has Happened Since
China Media Group, which runs the state broadcaster, suspended all La Liga broadcasts and all advertising featuring Mbappé the following Monday, before any apology had been made. Apologies from Mbappé, Real Madrid and the league were an „absolute prerequisite“ for further talks, it said. The beverage group Dongpeng, whose electrolyte drink had been promoted with A.I.-generated Mbappé spots during the World Cup, terminated its contract „with immediate effect,“ citing a „zero-tolerance policy“ toward behavior that offends national sentiments. Dairy giant Mengniu and cheese brand Milkground followed. According to Le Monde, the Dongpeng and Mengniu contracts alone were worth about 50 million yuan, roughly €6.7 million. Dior, Rimowa, Nike, Hublot and On Running deleted Mbappé content from their Chinese social media accounts. The platform Xiaohongshu froze his account with more than a million followers, nobody can follow him on Weibo anymore, and at the Adidas flagship store in Beijing’s Sanlitun district, AFP found Real Madrid jerseys still on sale, but none with his name. The clip itself was scrubbed from Chinese platforms, and Chinese media condemned the remark without repeating it. People are discussing it anyway, just in code: „Just look at a renminbi banknote and you’ll understand,“ one user wrote, according to the newsletter Eye on Digital China, a reference to Mao’s portrait on the notes.
Mbappé apologized on Tuesday in French, Mandarin and English: His comment had been „ill-judged,“ he had reacted to an image of himself and understood that he had „hurt many people in China.“ Real Madrid apologized on Wednesday „to the Chinese people“ and stressed its „deep respect“ for China, its history and culture. League president Javier Tebas wrote personally to China Media Group, met China’s ambassador to Spain to „find solutions“ and is considering a trip to China, according to Reuters. Beijing’s response remained cool: The foreign ministry said it took the apologies „seriously,“ and CCTV said Mbappé would be „judged by his actions.“ There is no date for the league’s return to the schedule.
What Is at Stake for La Liga
The league calls China a „strategic partner,“ and that comes at a price. La Liga’s international TV rights were worth €748 million in the 2024/25 season, according to the league, with China and the United States financing the majority of that. Only in the summer, the streaming service Migu, owned by state-run China Mobile, secured exclusive digital rights through 2029/30. Estimates put the league’s business in China at up to $116 million (about €103 million) per season. An insider told the newspaper El Mundo that „a significant part of La Liga’s business“ was at stake. Real Madrid generates 10 to 15 percent of its jersey and merchandise sales in China, according to Marca, and has several Chinese sponsors, including Hisense, Kaiyun Sports and Linglong Tire. Migu continued to show most matches over the weekend but dropped Racing against Real, and users report that clips of Mbappé’s goals in the Clásico have disappeared from the platform.
For Tebas, the case is doubly delicate because he has been locked in a power struggle with Real Madrid over the future of Spanish football for years. This time, both pulled in the same direction and apologized within 48 hours. That sets the case apart from the NBA precedent: When Rockets executive Daryl Morey backed the Hong Kong protests in 2019, the league defended his freedom of expression. CCTV then dropped the NBA from its schedule for more than a year, Commissioner Adam Silver put the damage at „hundreds of millions of dollars,“ and preseason games only returned to China last year.
How Long the Ban Could Last
Whether the swift submission helps remains open. Sports commentator Yan Qiang told Al Jazeera that an apology „does not necessarily mean the end of the story“ and that in the short term he was „certainly not optimistic.“ Adam Zhang of Key-Solution Sports Consulting sees quick, sincere remorse as at least the first step, one that will shape how long the broadcast ban lasts. Political scientist Debby Chan of the Australian National University describes the pattern as „a spiral of outrage“ driven by consumer nationalism: Brands cancel before the state has to order anything.
Against that stands the interest on the Chinese side. China Mobile has only just paid for the Migu rights and continues to show the league, just without Real Madrid. The fans have not disappeared either: Until two weeks ago, Mbappé was one of the most popular players in China, and the „dictator Mbappé“ memes originally came from Chinese fans themselves, a joke about his power at Paris Saint-Germain. The foreign ministry sidestepped questions about the measures against the player and the league, which observers read as a sign that Beijing is not driving the escalation itself. For La Liga, all that remains for now is to wait, and for Mbappé, the lesson that in football’s most important growth market, a laugh costs more than a missed penalty.
