{
  "id": 16722646,
  "title": "Kylian Mbappé dropped by Chinese brands for ‘offending national sentiments’",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/27/kylian-mbappe-dropped-by-chinese-brands-for-offending-national",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-10-27T06:24:28.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Guardian Business",
    "slug": "guardian-business",
    "url": "https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/oct/27/kylian-mbappe-dropped-by-chinese-brands-for-offensive-mao-jokes"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "French football star Kylian Mbappé has been dropped by two major Chinese brands for allegedly insulting national sentiments. Dongpeng Beverage and Mengniu, two prominent Chinese companies, ended their cooperation with the Real Madrid forward after a video surfaced online showing Mbappé joking about Mao Zedong, China's founding leader. In China, jokes about Mao are considered highly disrespectful and are a social taboo.\n\nDongpeng Beverage stated in a statement that their company \"firmly opposes and has a zero-tolerance policy towards any behaviour that offends national sentiments,\" and immediately terminated all cooperation with Mbappé. Similarly, Mengniu, China's largest dairy producer, also cut ties with the football superstar, adding that they \"firmly oppose and have a zero-tolerance policy towards any words or actions that hurt the feelings of the Chinese people.\"\n\nThe video of Mbappé joking about Mao Zedong was widely circulated online, causing an uproar on Chinese social media platform Weibo, where the post \"Dongpeng Beverage ends cooperation with Mbappe\" trended. Fans and users urged the drinks giant to remove Mbappé's image from their energy drink bottles, condemning the \"extremely serious wrong remarks\" as \"completely unacceptable.\"\n\nMbappé addressed a similar controversy in September when he commented on a meme depicting him as a military dictator, saying that while some parts of the meme were funny, the comparison to historical figures who caused misery was not. The controversy in China comes a day after Mbappé was named runner-up for the Ballon d'Or, the most prestigious individual award in football.",
  "summary": "Video appears to show football star refer to Mao Zedong as a ‘dictator’ Dongpeng Beverage and Mengniu end deals with France captain Kylian Mbappé was dropped Tuesday by two major brands in China after a video circulated online in which the French football superstar apparently joked about former leader Mao Zedong. In China jokes about Mao, the country’s founding leader who died in 1976, are…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 5,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "BBC Business",
        "title": "Major Chinese brands drop Mbappé as backlash grows over Mao joke",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/27/major-chinese-brands-drop-mbappe-as-backlash-grows-over-mao-joke",
        "published": "2026-10-27T07:15:08.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "Yahoo Sports",
        "title": "Major Chinese brands drop Mbappé as backlash grows over Mao joke",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/27/major-chinese-brands-drop-mbappe-as-backlash-grows-over-mao-joke-16725021",
        "published": "2026-10-27T08:01:43.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "City AM",
        "title": "Major Chinese brands drop Mbappe over Chairman Mao meme jokes",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/27/major-chinese-brands-drop-mbappe-over-chairman-mao-meme-jokes",
        "published": "2026-10-27T09:37:35.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "Politico EU",
        "title": "Kylian Mbappé dropped by Chinese brands over ‘dictator’ comment",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/27/kylian-mbappe-dropped-by-chinese-brands-over-dictator-comment",
        "published": "2026-10-27T10:38:15.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}