A Survivor of Mao's Cultural Revolution Says Kylian Mbappe's Apology Over a Mao Meme Shows What Happens Under Communism
Fox News says Chinese sponsors dropped the soccer star, state TV stopped airing La Liga and Real Madrid apologized after he laughed at a meme likening him to Mao. Xi Van Fleet says most Chinese people were never told what he said.
A soccer star laughed at a joke, China took offense, and the apologies kept coming. Fox News talked to someone who lived under Mao about it.
The fallout. Fox says the trouble started after Real Madrid forward Kylian Mbappe, 27, laughed at a meme on "The Bridge," a French talk show hosted by his teammate Aurelien Tchouameni. The meme put his face on an image resembling China's late dictator Mao Zedong. One of Mbappe's well-known nicknames is "The Dictator." Fox reports days of backlash, TV blackouts and lost sponsors.
The apologies. Several Chinese sponsors cut ties with him, and state broadcaster CCTV stopped airing La Liga matches in China. La Liga apologized first, then Mbappe, and on Wednesday Real Madrid, after CCTV demanded a formal apology from the club. Real Madrid had first said his "personal expression" would not affect its commercial ties in China and that he did not mean to offend Chinese people.
The voice. Xi Van Fleet, a Chinese-American author and anti-communist activist, spoke on Fox Business Thursday. "Most of the people in China have no idea what Mbappe said," she said. "They were told that he insulted China. You have no freedom of speech, you have no freedom of press." She said she lived her whole youth under Mao and that he "killed up to 80 million Chinese. Calling him a dictator is not even appropriate. He is a tyrant, and he is a mass murderer."
Her advice. She said she would have urged him to take a different course: "The truth will set you free; know who Mao was and then you should stand by what you said."
Note for readers: the death toll is Van Fleet's figure, and estimates of Mao-era deaths vary widely. We have not seen the broadcast. Fox's piece also links to an OutKick column on Mbappe and other athletes' dealings with China.