France soccer captain Kylian Mbappe apologised to China on Tuesday after a fierce backlash over his comments referring to late Chinese leader Mao Zedong as a dictator, underscoring how swiftly global celebrities can come unstuck.

In one of the more improbable football-related storylines of recent times, Mbappe has inadvertently sparked a major furore in China after footage emerged of him joking about a meme depicting him as the country’s former leader Mao Zedong.