China’s state broadcaster has temporarily suspended broadcasts of Spanish La Liga matches featuring Real Madrid’s French forward Kylian Mbappe.
Mundo Deportivo reports that the broadcaster has also removed all advertising featuring Mbappe, while references to the French star have been deleted from China Central Television’s website.
The move followed the circulation of a video on social media in which Mbappe was asked about the funniest meme he had seen. He referred to one in which his face had been superimposed on an image of “some guy — I think a Chinese dictator.”
The person in the meme is believed to have been Mao Zedong.
Following the controversy, Chinese companies Dongpeng and Mengniu reportedly terminated their advertising contracts with Mbappe, citing a zero-tolerance policy toward actions deemed offensive to national sentiments.
