Mbappe Affair Augurs Poorly for Free Speech in Europe — Domino Theory
I have an op-ed in Domino Theory titled “Mbappe Affair Augurs Poorly for Free Speech in Europe”. It appeared in the Opinion section on 10 November 2026.
Domino Theory
Domino Theory is an English-language online publication whose team is based in Taiwan. It publishes in-depth reporting and analysis on the geopolitics of East Asia, with an emphasis on relations between China and Taiwan, and makes no secret of having a point of view. Its editor and co-founder, Ron Brownlow, has written for the Taipei Times, Barron’s, the New York Times and Newsweek.
What happened
Kylian Mbappé, captain of the French national team, laughed at a meme that put his face on the body of Mao Zedong (毛澤東) and called the former Chinese leader a “dictator”. The moment came from behind-the-scenes footage of a podcast recorded with his teammate Aurélien Tchouaméni. Once the clip was posted on social media, three Chinese brands he had worked with for years, Mengniu, Milkground and Dongpeng, ended their deals, and Chinese television stopped broadcasting La Liga, the Spanish league he plays in. The punishment was collective. A few years earlier, when Mesut Özil spoke out about the Uyghurs, Chinese state TV suspended only one Arsenal game.
What I hold against European soccer
La Liga president Javier Tebas apologized, partly in Chinese, writing that one person’s behavior should not harm the league’s clubs and their millions of Chinese fans. Mbappé apologized in three languages, including Mandarin. In France, politicians stayed silent, with a few exceptions, as did the French Football Federation, UEFA and FIFA. In 2019, by contrast, after Daryl Morey, then general manager of the Houston Rockets, backed the Hong Kong protesters, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver accepted the suspension of broadcasts in China as the price of free speech.
I recall the first lesson of Timothy Snyder’s On Tyranny: “Do not obey in advance.”
What I propose
Lithuania learned this in 2021. During the dispute over the name of Taiwan’s representative office in Vilnius, Beijing pushed the German automotive supplier Continental to stop using Lithuanian components. Under shareholder pressure, private companies often give in faster than states. That episode gave rise to the EU’s anti-coercion instrument, Regulation (EU) 2023/2675, in force since December 2023, which allows the EU to respond when a third country applies economic coercion to the union or one of its member states.
UEFA and the EU should say it clearly: coercing private actors over a political statement is coercing Europe, and it engages Europe’s values, including freedom of expression. If Europe stays silent on small things, what will it say when more serious ones come, for instance in Taiwan?
On the same affair: my editorial in the Taipei Times (1 November 2026) and my op-ed in Les Echos (3 November 2026).