Mbappe apology taken ‘seriously’ after Mao remark, China says

China said Wednesday it took “seriously” an apology from Real Madrid superstar Kylian Mbappe after comments he made poking fun at Mao Zedong sparked a social media storm and saw Spanish football yanked off state TV.
Mocking former leader Mao — blamed by historians for millions of deaths — is taboo in China and the French player’s remarks saw him become the latest foreign sports figure to anger Beijing.
In a clip of a video interview with French show The Bridge — since taken down — Mbappe talked about being amused by an internet meme of his face photoshopped onto “some guy, think he’s a Chinese dictator”, an apparent reference to Mao.
“My comment was ill-judged and I now understand t...