Sports · Soccer · 20 outlets (L 2 · C 7 · R 5 · 6 not rated)
Mbappé apologizes as Chinese brands drop him over Mao 'dictator' joke
He was asked which online meme makes him laugh most and answered "the one where they put my face on a Chinese dictator".[16, 21] Chinese companies including Dongpeng Beverage and Mengniu ended deals with him; The Guardian reported two brands dropped him, while Sky News, the New York Post and Fox News reported at least three.[2, 10, 12 +1]
Mbappé said his comment was ill-judged and that he now understood it hurt many people in China and Chinese communities worldwide.[9, 15] Fox News reported Real Madrid matches were banned on Chinese state broadcaster CCTV after the comment.[10]
Why it matters Dongpeng Beverage, Mengniu and Milkground ended their endorsement deals with Mbappé, and Fox News reported Real Madrid matches were banned on CCTV.[10, 11]
Covered by The Guardian, NBC News, The Wall Street Journal and 17 more
Background Watch: The Mbappé-Chairman Mao controversy explained
How balanced is this coverage?
Of the 14 rated outlets that covered it, 2 are left of center, 7 are center and 5 are right of center (3 of them in the Right group). 6 more are not rated.
- Left: none.
- Leans left: The Guardian (−0.70), The Daily Beast (−0.64).
- Center: NBC News (−0.49), PBS NewsHour (−0.48), Fortune (−0.25), ABC News (−0.19), Business Insider (−0.09), Bloomberg (+0.08), Forbes (+0.19).
- Leans right: The Wall Street Journal (+0.63), New York Post (+0.64).
- Right: The Washington Times (+1.27), Fox News (+1.52), IJR (+1.52).
Not rated Al Jazeera, The Athletic, BBC News, ESPN, Financial Times, Sky News. Not placed: they have no lean score.
Each dot is an outlet that covered it, placed by its audience-lean score (Eady et al. 2025), which measures who shares its links, not how accurate it is. The ticks under the line are all 113 rated outlets Tare reads.