This week a Chinese sports forum unearthed an April 2026 interview with Real Madrid football star Kylian Mbappé jokingly likening himself to a “Chinese dictator” ( dictateur chinois ). While Mbappé, known for dictating terms on the pitch, did not name names, the broadcaster added art showing him as Chinese Communist Party founder Mao Zedong.

Beijing’s reaction was swift. China’s Foreign Ministry claimed the words “hurt the feelings of the Chinese people.” Chinese state broadcaster CCTV blacked out all Spanish football league La Liga matches.

The Chinese Communist Party under Xi Jinping has low tolerance for anything that could be interpreted as an affront to China, even a comment about Mao made in jest. Javier Tebas, the Spanish football league’s president, issued an apology praising La Liga’s ties with China’s “government departments.”

Mao launched China’s Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution, disasters that caused massive loss of lives and suffering.…