The offending video shows Mbappé saying that the funniest internet meme he had seen involving him was of his face photoshopped on to that of “some guy – I think he’s a Chinese dictator”. This was an apparent reference to a meme of Mbappé superimposed on an image of Mao.

“My comment was ill-judged, and I now understand that it hurt many people in China and in Chinese communities around the world. I apologise to everyone my words have upset,” Mbappé said in a statement in French, Chinese and English.

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Spain’s La Liga also apologised, saying it “deeply regrets the offence that Kylian Mbappé’s recent comments have caused among Chinese fans. These comments were made in a personal capacity and do not represent La Liga.” In China, jokes about Mao, the country’s founding leader who died in 1976 – and whose drastic policies are also blamed by historians for mass starvation and millions of deaths – remain taboo.

The beverage giant Dongpeng, which during this year’s World Cup ran adverts with AI-generated images of Mbappé consuming its sport drink, said it was terminating all cooperation with the France captain. “Our company firmly opposes and has a zero-tolerance policy towards any behaviour that offends national sentiments,” Dongpeng said in a statement.

Mengniu, China’s largest dairy producer, and cheese maker Milkground also said that they were cutting ties with Mbappé, who until now was hugely popular among Chinese fans with millions of social media followers. “Dongpeng Beverage ends cooperation with Mbappé” was the top-trending topic on Chinese social media site Weibo with 430 million views.

One Weibo user said the “extremely serious wrong remarks … crossed the red line” and others urged Dongpeng to remove Mbappé’s image from their bottles. Dongqiudi, one of China’s biggest online football outlets, said Mbappé’s remarks were “offensive to China and the Chinese people”.

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In an interview with the French sports newspaper L’Equipe last month, the 27-year-old Mbappé addressed a previous meme depicting him as a military dictator. “There’s a part of it that’s funny … but there is another part that’s a bit less funny because of the damage such people have caused throughout history,” he said.

China’s foreign ministry said it was aware of the reports regarding Mbappé, who on Monday finished runner-up to Harry Kane in the Ballon d’Or award for the world’s best player. “Words and actions that hurt the feelings of the Chinese people will naturally be met with unanimous rejection from all sectors of Chinese society,” spokesperson Guo Jiakun told a regular briefing.

The Paper cited sources at the state broadcaster saying that CCTV has suspended all broadcasts of La Liga matches, and removed all advertisements involving Mbappé. On the CCTV website, La Liga matches this weekend were still on its online viewing schedule.