Chinese state TV fails to air Real Madrid match after Mbappe row

Chinese state broadcaster CCTV did not broadcast a Real Madrid LaLiga match on Sunday after star forward Kylian Mbappe caused a furore in China with remarks he made about former leader Mao Zedong.

The match between Real Madrid and Racing Santander began at 1515 GMT but was not broadcast on either of CCTV’s two sports channels, AFP reporters saw.

None of the other matches from the 11th round of LaLiga have been broadcast live on public television so far.

A viral video in recent days showed Mbappe referring to Mao as a “dictator”, prompting the body overseeing CCTV to say it would halt broadcasts of the top Spanish league.

Mbappe, Real and LaLiga later all said sorry for his remarks, and China’s foreign ministry said it took the player’s apology “seriously”.

Asked by AFP before the weekend, LaLiga said that Chinese television had previously shown all games live, without specifying which platforms hosted the broadcasts.

AFP journalists did find live broadcasts of matches on Migu, a digital streaming service owned by the state-owned China Mobile telecom network. That included Barcelona’s 6-1 win over Alaves on Saturday.

However, the Racing Santander–Real Madrid match did not appear to be broadcast on Sunday on Migu.

China Media Group (CMG), which oversees CCTV, had said it had moved on Monday to suspend LaLiga broadcasts, adding that apologies from LaLiga, Mbappe and Real Madrid were “an absolute prerequisite” for moving past the furore.

The viral video showed Mbappe saying that the funniest internet meme about him he had seen was of his face photoshopped onto that of “some guy – I think he’s a Chinese dictator”.

This was an apparent reference to a meme of Mbappe superimposed on an image of Mao.

Mbappe later apologised for his “ill-judged” comments, LaLiga said it “deeply” regretted them, and Real followed suit.

CCTV’s sports website later reported that CMG had acknowledged the apologies, but it remains unclear whether talks to defuse the situation have begun.

China is a huge market for European football, with CCTV also carrying matches from the Premier League as well as the German, French and Italian top flights.

Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho said on Saturday that the club had “done our part” to put the controversy behind them.

It is taboo in China to crack jokes about Mao, who died in 1976 and whose drastic policies are blamed by historians for mass starvation and millions of deaths.

Major Chinese brands cancelled sponsorship deals with Mbappe after his comments.

Various overseas sports leagues and players have found themselves in hot water for comments on topics that are politically sensitive to China.

China effectively cut ties with the NBA for several years from 2019 after then-Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey tweeted his support for Hong Kong protesters.

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