China's CCTV Pulls Real Madrid Match After Mbappé's Mao Meme Remark

On Sunday, China's state broadcaster CCTV did not show the Real Madrid match. That came despite an apology from the club's star striker, Kylian Mbappé, for remarks about Mao Zedong that he now calls ill-judged.

The trouble began with a French talk show, The Bridge, where Mbappé reportedly said that the meme that makes him laugh the most is the one that superimposes his face on a "Chinese dictator" resembling Mao. The backlash in China was large. Mao is revered by the Communist Party, even though his rule included one of the bloodiest chapters in the country's history.

Mao led the Communist Party to victory in the civil war and founded the People's Republic of China. He died in 1976. During his rule he oversaw the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution. The first led to a famine that killed tens of millions of people, and the second unleashed violent purges across Chinese society.

China Media Group, the parent organisation of CCTV, responded last Tuesday by announcing it would suspend broadcasts of Spanish La Liga matches. The furore also led several Chinese brands to drop Mbappé. The group had earlier demanded apologies from three parties, Mbappé, Real Madrid and La Liga, calling them an absolute prerequisite for moving past the incident.

The apologies came. Mbappé issued his later on Tuesday. "My comment was ill-judged, and I now understand that it hurt many people in China and in Chinese communities around the world," he said. Real Madrid and La Liga also apologised. China's foreign ministry said it took Mbappé's apology seriously, and China Media Group acknowledged the apologies.

Still, the blackout has held. China Media Group has not commented on how long it will last, and Sunday's missing match shows that acknowledging an apology is not the same as lifting the suspension.

On the pitch, Real Madrid beat Racing Santander 3-0, with goals from Mbappé, Jude Bellingham and Yan Diomande.

This is not the first time Beijing has pulled sports coverage over political sensitivities. In October 2019 it took NBA games off the air for a year after Daryl Morey, then general manager of the Houston Rockets, tweeted support for Hong Kong protesters during the city's widespread pro-democracy demonstrations. Morey backtracked after fierce criticism from Chinese fans, sponsors and commercial partners. He later wrote that he had had a lot of opportunity to hear and consider other perspectives, and that he hoped those who were upset would know offending them was not his intention.

Whether the La Liga suspension follows the NBA's year-long pattern is unknown. For now, the thing to watch is whether China Media Group gives any timeline for the return of the matches.