The moment the meme hit the mainstream came in Kansas City. During Argentina’s 3-1 quarterfinal win over Switzerland on 11 July, the American streamer IShowSpeed spotted a fan in a military-style outfit with “Mbappé 10 Dictator” printed across the back and pulled him over on camera.
“What the hell? What does that even mean?” he asked, before the fan tried to explain what has become one of football’s stranger running jokes.
Two months on, Mbappé has weighed in himself. In a France Football interview published on 11 September as part of the magazine’s Ballon d’Or coverage, the Real Madrid forward said he could see both sides.
“There is a part that is funny because we feel that, for some people, it’s good natured,” Mbappé said.
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“To be compared to people who murder people, or who have made millions and millions of people unhappy… I don’t think I’ve ever done that in my life.”
He was not gentle with those sharing the edits.
“On the one hand, I know that it’s done in a light-hearted way and that it doesn’t go that far, but it sometimes shows a lack of political and human awareness,” he said.
The Marseille kebab that started it
The joke traces back to a March 2024 dispute between Mbappé’s lawyers and French influencer Mohamed Henni over the use of the player’s name at Henni’s kebab restaurant in Marseille. Henni publicly accused Mbappé of “behaving like a dictator”, and the phrase stuck. AI-generated portraits of Mbappé in military regalia, TikTok edits and a novelty song followed, and the joke crossed into the France national-team dressing room.
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Dembélé calls him Mobutu
Teammate Ousmane Dembélé nicknamed him “Mobutu”, a reference to Mobutu Sese Seko, who ruled Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of Congo, for more than two decades. Mbappé drew a distinction between the online pile-on and the ribbing between international teammates.
“Ousmane, he is something different. He found it on social media. He’s just having a laugh,” he said.
Mbappé used the same interview to make his case for the individual prize, arguing he topped the scoring charts in La Liga, the Champions League and the World Cup, and that no player had a better season.
The 2026 Ballon d’Or is handed out on 26 October in London, the first time the ceremony has been staged in the English capital.
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