Mao founded the People’s Republic of China in 1949 and ruled through tumultuous decades in the 1960s and 1970s.

His attempt at rapid industrialisation, which he called the Great Leap Forward, led to a famine that killed tens of millions. Then came the Cultural Revolution: a violent purge of anyone seen as a threat to Communism, which included Chinese intellectuals, landowners, artists and often rivals within the Party.

His death in 1976 brought a new era for China, which began to open its doors to the global economy. Even as the country moved away from Mao’s rule, he continued to be hailed by the party as a national icon whose legacy was beyond reproach.

So jokes or memes about Mao are seen not just as an insult to the party but also its closely-guarded narrative about the country’s past.

It’s unclear when the Mbappé meme involving Mao began but the nickname – “the dictator” – has made the striker the subject of many memes and jokes online.

In 2024, he sued a French influencer and kebab shop owner for using his name in the description of one of the shop’s sandwiches, leading to more jokes about the nickname.

France team-mate Ousmane Dembele jumped on the trend during the 2026 World Cup, calling Mbappé Mobut – a reference to Mobutu Sese Seko, the dictator who ruled the Democratic Republic of Congo, formerly Zaire, for three decades.

In an interview with France Football in September, Mbappé acknowledged the light-heartedness behind many of these memes, but said they “sometimes reveal a lack of political and human awareness among people”.

“There’s a side that’s a bit less funny, because we know the damage people like that have caused throughout history,” he said.

“Being compared to people who murder others, or who have made millions upon millions of people miserable… I don’t think I’ve done that in my life.”

Additional reporting by Fan Wang and Osmond Chia