Chinese beverage companies Dongpeng Beverage and Mengniu have terminated their sponsorship agreements with French football star Kylian Mbappe following an online video that allegedly showed him joking about former Chinese leader Mao Zedong.

The announcements came on Tuesday after the video circulated on Chinese social media, triggering criticism from some users who considered the reported remarks disrespectful to China and its people.

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Dongpeng Beverage announced that it was ending its partnership with the Real Madrid forward with immediate effect, citing its opposition to behaviour it considers offensive to national sentiments.

“Our company firmly opposes and has a zero-tolerance policy towards any behaviour that offends national sentiments,” the company said in a statement.

Mengniu, one of China’s largest dairy producers, also announced the immediate termination of its collaboration with the 27-year-old footballer.

The company said it maintained a zero-tolerance policy towards words or actions that hurt the feelings of the Chinese people.

Before the controversy, Mbappe enjoyed considerable popularity among Chinese football fans and had millions of followers on social media.

Dongpeng had also used AI-generated images of the France captain in advertisements for its sports drinks during this year’s World Cup.

The dispute centres on a video in which Mbappe reportedly described a meme featuring his face superimposed on the image of a Chinese dictator as one of the funniest internet memes he had seen.

His reported comment appeared to refer to a meme depicting him alongside Mao Zedong, the founding leader of the People’s Republic of China, who died in 1976.

However, the authenticity of the video had not been independently verified by AFP Fact Check at the time of the report.

The issue quickly gained traction on Weibo, China’s major social media platform, where the termination of Dongpeng’s partnership with Mbappe became a trending topic.

Some users condemned the reported remarks and called on the beverage company to remove the footballer’s image from its products.

Dongqiudi, one of China’s major online football platforms, also criticised the remarks, saying they were offensive to China and had hurt the feelings of Chinese football supporters and the wider public.

Mbappe had previously commented on memes comparing him to historical dictators.

In a September interview with French sports newspaper L’Equipe, he acknowledged that some memes were intended as humour but expressed discomfort with comparisons to individuals responsible for mass suffering.

He said such comparisons were troubling because of the harm those figures had caused throughout history.

The latest controversy highlights the commercial risks international sports stars can face when their public comments are perceived as crossing political or cultural sensitivities in major markets.

Similar disputes have affected global sports figures in the past.

In 2019, a social media post by Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey expressing support for Hong Kong protesters triggered a major backlash in China, including the suspension of sponsorship agreements and the removal of NBA games from Chinese television for a period.

In 2023, former NBA player Dwight Howard also faced criticism on Chinese social media after appearing in a video in which Taiwan was referred to as a country.

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For Mbappe, the decisions by Dongpeng and Mengniu represent a significant setback to his commercial relationships in China, although the full financial implications of the terminations have not been disclosed.