A joke interview while waiting on the pitch caused French star Kylian Mbappé to encounter a complete separation between Chinese officials and the market within two days. In a video distributed overseas a few days ago, Mbappé was asked about his favorite internet meme and joked that he was a "Chinese tyrant." The screen then showed an internet meme superimposing his face onto former Chinese leader Mao Zedong. China's official media and forums immediately condemned his remarks for "severely hurting national feelings," but at the same time announced they would not be translated or distributed on the grounds that they touched the bottom line. In the grassroots Chinese community, the original words and images of the controversy were completely blocked, causing a large number of netizens to use code words like "Avatar 100 Yuan" to ask about the real story of the incident. The boycott quickly spread to the business world. Many Chinese brands stopped cooperation and removed products from shelves. Their Xiaohongshu social media accounts and Weibo accounts were banned, and China Central Radio and Television also suspended broadcasting league matches. Although Mbappé later issued a trilingual statement acknowledging that his words were "misjudged," and Real Madrid and La Liga apologized one after another, the storm did not subside. Coinciding with the politically sensitive juncture of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, this event once again highlighted the close connection between sports, business, and political discourse. When the public cannot freely understand the content of the controversy, the defined "harm" directly became an inevitable price for multinational businesses. Click the link to read the full article and analyze the public opinion mechanism from internet memes to nationwide bans.

A joke interview while waiting on the pitch caused French star Kylian Mbappé to encounter a complete separation between Chinese officials and the market within two days. In a video distributed overseas a few days ago, Mbappé was asked about his favorite internet meme and joked that he was a "Chinese tyrant." The screen then showed an internet meme superimposing his face onto former Chinese leader Mao Zedong. China's official media and forums immediately condemned his remarks for "severely hurting national feelings," but at the same time announced they would not be translated or distributed on the grounds that they touched the bottom line. In the grassroots Chinese community, the original words and images of the controversy were completely blocked, causing a large number of netizens to use code words like "Avatar 100 Yuan" to ask about the real story of the incident. The boycott quickly spread to the business world. Many Chinese brands stopped cooperation and removed products from shelves. Their Xiaohongshu social media accounts and Weibo accounts were banned, and China Central Radio and Television also suspended broadcasting league matches. Although Mbappé later issued a trilingual statement acknowledging that his words were "misjudged," and Real Madrid and La Liga apologized one after another, the storm did not subside. Coinciding with the politically sensitive juncture of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, this event once again highlighted the close connection between sports, business, and political discourse. When the public cannot freely understand the content of the controversy, the defined "harm" directly became an inevitable price for multinational businesses. Click the link to read the full article and analyze the public opinion mechanism from internet memes to nationwide bans.