Do sports stars have the right to free speech?
The Mbappe controversy demonstrates how market power in sport is being used to enforce conformity.
French football superstar Kylian Mbappe recently landed in trouble over a meme. Discussing an image that apparently superimposed his face on Mao Zedong’s, he referred to the late Chinese leader as someone he thought was a dictator, without naming Mao.
The offhand remark became an international controversy. Chinese sponsors withdrew their support. State television suspended La Liga broadcasts. Apologies followed from Mbappe and his club, Real Madrid, while the league expressed regret over the offence caused.
Mbappe was riffing on one of the running jokes about his outsized influence over his clubs and teammates. He was not delivering a considered assessment of Chinese history. Yet the response turned a passing remark into a test of respect for an entire nation.
Today, sporting institutions make similar claims on the people whose achievements they celebrate. The athlete represents the nation, embodies the club, carries the sponsor’s values. Each relationship becomes a reason to keep an inconvenient thought to oneself. As Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho put it, “Often the best thing you can do is keep your mouth shut, because there’s danger in so many things you say or comment on.”