La Liga goes dark in China over Mbappé comment

China's state broadcaster has chosen not to air matches from La Liga following Kylian Mbappé's offhanded comment about Mao Zedong, deepening the diplomatic rift between the two nations. The Chinese player's reference to the Chinese leader as a "dictator" has sparked controversy and led to commercial losses for the Spanish league, with sources telling El Mundo that it poses a significant threat to "a significant part of La Liga's business."

Despite the censorship of the comment itself, Mbappé's remarks have generated substantial discussion on Chinese social media, with netizens employing coded language to express their views. In response, La Liga's president has met with China's ambassador to Spain in an attempt to find a resolution to the crisis.

Brief written by urgent.news from Semafor's own syndicated text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.