Mbappe is memed as ‘the dictator’. He was asked by a journalist if he has seen the memes online and what he thinks of them. He said he likes the meme of his face photoshopped on an image of ‘I think, a Chinese dictator’, that he finds it funny.
What’s resulted is non-stop racial abuse on Chinese social media and annulment of contracts and sponsorships with the entire Spanish league. The government itself has condemned him. He apologized publicly for referring to Mao as a dictator and yet a lot of people online are just going whole hog on the racism.
There’s nothing embarrassing about making some dude lose money and forcing him to bend the knee. China should begin doing to Western celebrities and stars what they have been doing to Taiwanese celebrities and stars for a while now: force them to toe the party line using access to their domestic market as leverage. The next step is to use this economic leverage on state leaders.