Senior Editor for Inclusive Storytelling at The New Humanitarian. French football superstar Kylian Mbappe recently landed in trouble over a meme. Discussing an image that apparently superimposed his face on Mao Zedong’s, he referred to the late Chinese leader as someone he thought was a dictator, without naming Mao. The offhand remark became an international controversy. Chinese sponsors withdrew their support. State television suspended La Liga broadcasts. Apologies followed from Mbappe and his club, Real Madrid, while the league expressed regret over the offence caused. Mbappe was riffing on one of the running jokes about his outsized influence over his clubs and teammates. He was not delivering a considered assessment of Chinese history.
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