Poor old Kylian Mbappe (well, not so poor, he’s worth some £200 million). Having just been pipped at the post for the Ballon d’Or by our own Harry Kane, he discovered he had been heavily criticised by the Chinese government over comments he had made about Chairman Mao. The world’s number two footballer is officially public enemy number one in the People’s Republic.

Mao merchandise still sells well in China, his embalmed corpse attracts 8 to 10 million visitors a year and his portrait still adorns houses and public areas. And unlike Churchill, he hasn’t been removed from the banknotes

Mao merchandise still sells well in China, his embalmed corpse attracts 8 to 10 million visitors a year and his portrait still adorns houses and public areas. And unlike Churchill, he hasn’t been removed from the banknotes

The much-memed global superstar remarked on a talk show that he found some of the AI creations of himself amusing. His favourite he said is a mock-up of himself as Chairman Mao, complete with zhongshan suit and combover. Mbappe didn’t appear to know much about Mao’s career and referred to him as ‘some Chinese dictator’ (one of Mbappe’s nicknames is ‘the dictator’ due to his outsize influence on the teams he represents).

Innocuous, one would have thought. But the Chinese saw red. Literally. Three drink manufacturers in China that have sponsorship dealings with Mbappe immediately severed........

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