Publishers of both football titles pulled Mbappe from their Chinese versions on Tuesday, after a video in which the France captain joked that his favorite meme of himself showed his face superimposed on “a Chinese dictator” went viral in China.

FC Online, which Tencent publishes in mainland China, removed Mbappe from its external promotional channels immediately, with an in-game removal of his content to follow at an unspecified date. The Chinese editions of eFootball halted all promotion of the player, inside and outside the games, and said characters and cards linked to him would be withdrawn. Neither decision affects the international versions of either title.

Three Chinese brands walked away the same day

The gaming blow landed on the same day Mbappe lost three Chinese sponsors. Beverage group Dongpeng and dairy giant Mengniu both terminated their partnerships with the 27-year-old on Tuesday, Al Jazeera reported. Cheese producer Milkground announced the same step on the same day, ABC News reported.

Dongpeng told Al Jazeera it has a “zero-tolerance policy towards any behaviour that offends national sentiments.”

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All three brands cut ties on 27 October, according to Sport News Africa, which listed Milkground alongside Dongpeng and Mengniu.

The video, the apology and a foreign ministry rebuke

The clip at the center of the row was filmed in April for the French-language show The Bridge and circulated widely on social media on Monday, the same day as the Ballon d’Or ceremony, according to Al Jazeera. In it, Mbappe laughs at an image placing his face on the body of Mao Zedong, who founded the People’s Republic in 1949 and ruled it until his death in 1976. Open mockery of Mao remains a social taboo in China.

Mbappe published a statement on his social media accounts in French, Mandarin and English.

“My comment was ill-judged and I now understand that it hurt many people in China and in Chinese communities around the world,” he wrote in the apology, carried by Al Jazeera.

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The apology did not close the matter. Foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said words and actions that hurt the feelings of the Chinese people “will naturally be met with joint opposition from all sectors of Chinese society,” ABC News reported.

Chinese state television has halted broadcasts of La Liga matches involving Mbappe and pulled his advertisements off its channels, Al Jazeera reported, citing state-backed outlet The Paper.

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