Kylian Mbappe loses Chinese sponsors for calling Mao ‘Chinese dictator’

Kylian Mbappe has been dropped by two major brands in China after a video circulated online in which the French football superstar apparently joked about former Chinese 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 on Tuesday, adding that “with immediate effect we are terminating all cooperation with Kylian Mbappe”.