The fallout from Kylian Mbappé’s “ill-judged” comments which appeared to cast the former Chinese leader Mao Zedong as a “dictator” has already stretched beyond the Frenchman and Real Madrid.

Despite an apology from Mbappé, written in French, Chinese and English, as well as Real Madrid, the Chinese state broadcaster CCTV have reportedly followed through on their threat to suspend all coverage of La Liga matches, including Barcelona’s rampant stroll past Alavés on Saturday.

Mbappé incited the ire of millions when a social media clip was released showing him react to various internet memes. The Real Madrid striker pointed toward an image of himself mocked up as Mao, the controversial founder of the People’s Republic of China, who he couldn’t quite place. “I think it was a Chinese dictator,” he laughed.

That unwitting description inspired comment from China’s foreign ministry and prompted a raft of national brands to rapidly disassociate themselves from Mbappé. This backlash could cost the Frenchman millions in lost sponsorship deals and has already impacted the rest of Spain’s top flight.

Spanish news outlet EFE reported that none of Saturday’s La Liga fixtures were broadcast on CCTV and did not appear in the channel’s scheduled programming. Real Madrid’s clash with Racing Santander on Sunday was also conspicuous by its absence while all previous fixtures involving Mbappé’s club had been removed from the app. Should this continue, there could be a serious cost of lost broadcasting revenue for all La Liga clubs.

The Chinese streaming platform Migu did carry coverage of Barcelona and Spain’s other fixtures, although Real Madrid were once again scrubbed from the records. The team that toppled Barça in last weekend’s Clásico (thanks to Mbappé’s goals) were not included in any of Migu’s retrospective coverage of August or September.

Jose Mourinho Stands Firm on Mbappe Comments

If anyone is going to appreciate the consequence of some costly comments, then it’s José Mourinho. The Real Madrid manager is famously (or infamously) outspoken and will forever be associated with a mocking wariness for crossing the line. “I prefer not to speak,” he notably claimed back in 2014. “If I speak, I am in big trouble. In big trouble. And I don’t want to be in big trouble.”

Now that Mbappé has found himself (and the rest of Spain’s top flight) in big trouble, Mourinho was quick to come to his defense.

“These are the dangers of today’s world, where many times the best thing you can do is not open your mouth,” the Portuguese boss lamented this week. “Because there is risk in so many things you say or comment on.

“But I have also seen him [Mbappé] act very responsibly with a club that, at this regard, is of great class. As far as we’re concerned, that’s it. We have nothing more to say. Both Real Madrid and Kylian Mbappé had the class to react immediately, and ​I feel, as manager, ​very well represented by ⁠both of them.”