China pulls LaLiga matches from CCTV after Mbappé's Mao meme remark

Weekend broadcasts halted

CCTV, the Chinese state broadcaster, showed no LaLiga match on Friday, 30 October, or Saturday, 31 October, according to checks by EFE. The unshown fixtures included Villarreal against Espanyol, Levante against Atlético Madrid, Rayo Vallecano against Celta de Vigo, Real Betis against Málaga and Barcelona against Alavés. CCTV had already suspended its LaLiga coverage on Monday, 26 October, and the last match still available in its app was Celta against Betis, played on Sunday, 25 October. Before the suspension, the channel had aired one or two matches per round, according to the platform's history.

The meme and the clip

Kylian Mbappé made the remark on The Bridge, a programme co-hosted by his Real Madrid and France teammate Aurélien Tchouaméni. The clip was recorded in April but published by the show on 26 October. Asked about his favourite meme, the forward picked an image that placed his face over that of a figure he described as a Chinese dictator, which the on-screen caption identified as Mao Zedong. Dongqiudi, a Chinese football information platform, noticed the clip and issued a statement calling the words unacceptable and hurtful to Chinese fans and people. It declined to translate the remarks, saying they would damage China and its people.

Sponsors, apologies and official reactions

Three companies that used the player's name and image announced on Tuesday, 27 October, that they were ending their contracts with him, according to Mediafax. LaLiga criticised the remarks, and its president, Javier Tebas, joined the apologies, as did Mbappé and Real Madrid. Mediafax reports that Mbappé apologised and said he was deeply saddened by the reaction. The Chinese Media Group, which owns CCTV, said it had received the apology it had demanded, and China's foreign ministry said it had attached importance to the matter.

Writer Juan del Val, speaking on La Roca, went further in his criticism of Mao.

“It is not just a dictator. It is a murderer, like all dictators.”

Del Val also said he did not mind losing the contracts he held in China. Berni Barrachina, quoted by LaSexta, explained that in China satire of Communist Party leaders is treated as defamation of heroes and martyrs.

Commercial stakes and open questions

El País places the dispute in the scale of the Chinese market, which has about 1.4 billion people and retail sales of roughly 6.2 trillion euros in 2025. Migu has been LaLiga's exclusive digital partner in China since this season, a deal that runs to 2029/30, and it kept most of its weekend schedule. Its catalogue, however, does not show Real Madrid matches from the current or previous season, and the Racing de Santander against Real Madrid game, not yet played, is missing from its schedule. El País says the calm does not guarantee that sponsors or matches will return to CCTV, and it is unclear whether the crisis is over. An eldiario.es column argued that the penalty lands on Real Madrid and LaLiga more than on the player himself.