China said Oct 28 that it took seriously an apology from the French Real Madrid superstar Kylian Mbappé in the aftermath of his off-the-cuff “Chinese Dictator” remark. Seen as obviously referring to Chairman Mao, the light-hearted remark provoked severe backlash from China, including its official media which ran lengthy criticisms and condemnations of him, while major Chinese brands dropped him. China’s state television suspended broadcasts of matches from Spain’s La Liga, the top-tier professional men’s association football division of the Spanish football league system.
The point was not whether or not Mao was a dictator, for no one, not even the Chinese themselves, dared to deny it. They just did not like the ugly truth being uttered or reported in public. And the backlash against Mbappé was truly massive.
Mocking the founding father of Communist China, blamed by historians for tens of millions of deaths, is taboo in China. Mao ranks among the giants of mass killers in world history and only a dictator could have accomplish that.
