Kylian Mbappé reacted to the "dictator" memes about himself

Kylian Mbappé reacted to the "dictator" memes about himself

Kylian Mbappé, the forward for the French national team and Real Madrid, shared his thoughts regarding the memes depicting him as a dictator.

"To be compared to people who have killed others or made millions of people miserable... I don't think I've done such things in my life. So, everything is mixed up here. On one hand, I know that all of this is just light humor and doesn't carry a deep meaning, but sometimes it shows a lack of political and human awareness in people," Mbappé said.

The football player also specifically noted that he was not offended by his national team teammate Ousmane Dembélé, who jokingly calls him "Mobutu" (a reference to Mobutu Sese Seko, the dictator who ruled Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of the Congo, from 1965 to 1997):

"Ousmane is a different story. He got it from social media, he's just joking," the forward added.

For reference, Mbappé was first labeled a "dictator" in 2024 due to a lawsuit involving a kebab shop in Marseille: back then, the player's lawyers threatened to sue because his name was used on the menu without permission, and the establishment's owner publicly called the athlete a dictator.

This image completely stuck to Mbappé during the 2026 World Cup. During the tournament, social media users began mass-producing videos to the AI-generated track "Kylian the Dictator." Fans depicted Mbappé in military uniform wearing medals, interpreting his actions on and off the pitch as "decrees." This was triggered by several incidents: in the match against Iraq, Mbappé showed stadium staff where to clear water from the pitch, and in the match against Norway, he asked the referee to hand the captain's armband to his teammate.

As a reminder, Mbappé became the top scorer of the 2026 World Cup. He contributed 10 goals and 4 assists in 8 matches for the French national team. He is also the top scorer in the history of the national team with 66 goals.