Global sports stars who have drawn China's ire

Major brands in China have dropped French football star Kylian Mbappe, saying he "hurt the feelings of the Chinese people" after a video circulated online in which he apparently joked about former leader Mao Zedong. Global sports stars who have drawn China's ireHe is the latest in a string of global athletes to have faced public backlash and financial repercussions in China after commenting on politically sensitive topics.

Eight-time NBA All-Star Dwight Howard referred to Taiwan as a "country" when he appeared in a video in 2023 alongside Lai Ching-te, the self-ruled island's then-vice president and future leader. "Since I came to Taiwan, I've gained a whole new appreciation of this country.

This place makes me feel so much love," Howard said. He was playing for Taiwanese team the Taoyuan Leopards, having left the Los Angeles Lakers the previous year. The incident incited a furore on Chinese social media, with Howard later telling Taiwanese media he had not intended any harm.

Beijing sees democratic Taiwan as part of its territory, and rages at any attempts to recognise the island as an independent nation. US wrestling star-turned actor John Cena also called Taiwan a "country" in 2021 while promoting his movie "Fast & Furious 9".

After online outrage, he apologised in conversational-level Mandarin on Chinese social media platform Weibo. China suspended sponsorship deals with the NBA and pulled its games from the state broadcaster for a year in October 2019, after Houston Rockets executive Daryl Morey voiced support for Hong Kong during widespread pro-democracy protests in the city.

Morey had tweeted "Fight for freedom, stand with Hong Kong". China portrayed the protesters as violent separatists and bristled at what it called "foreign interference". Chinese internet giant Tencent initially removed Houston Rockets games from its programming schedule, but later showed games as the row rumbled on.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver said the league lost "hundreds of millions of dollars" over the row with China. The NBA returned to the lucrative China market in October 2025 with two pre-season games in Macau. Enes Kanter Freedom, a former Boston Celtics centre in the NBA, declared in 2021 that "Tibet belongs to the Tibetan people".

Tibet has alternated over the centuries between independence and control by China, which claims it "peacefully liberated" the region in 1951 and brought infrastructure and education to the previously underdeveloped region.

However, human rights campaigners and exiles have accused China of religious repression and cultural erosion through forced re-education.