Bottles of Dongpeng Beverage Group's Bushuila electrolyte drink featuring French football star Kylian Mbappe on the packaging are displayed at a convenience store in Beijing on Tuesday. | AFP-JIJI

Beijing – Kylian Mbappe was dropped by two major brands in China on Tuesday 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 considered disrespectful and remain a social taboo.

“Our company firmly opposes and has a zero-tolerance policy towards any behaviour that offends national sentiments,” drinks giant Dongpeng said in a statement, adding that “with immediate effect we are terminating all cooperation with Kylian Mbappe.”

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