Celeste Amarilla, a Paraguayan senator, is facing global backlash over a derogatory comment about Kylian Mbappe of France.
The controversy started after Mbappe’s penalty knocked out
Paraguay in the last 16 of the 2026 World Cup. The match ended in a light brawl
after pent-up emotions from the bad-tempered match spilt over. In the heat of
the moment, Mbappe appeared to ignore an offer of a handshake of sportsmanship
with Orlando Gill, the Paraguayan goalkeeper, after the final whistle.
Reacting to a video of an infuriated Gill recounting the
incident, the Paraguayan senator described Mbappe as “a colonised Cameroonian
who has really pretended to be French”. She also called the French captain
“embittered, nouveau riche, arrogant and ugly”.
In a strongly worded response, Mbappe called Amarilla a
“despicable woman who is not worthy of her position” as a senator.
He described her comments as “uninhibited racism”.
Emmanuel Macron, president of France, also condemned the
Paraguayan senator’s “racist attacks” on Mbappe.
He added that the country stands with the captain of its
men’s national team.
Gianni Infantino, FIFA president, also condemned Amarilla in
an Instagram post.
“All of football and society stand in solidarity with the
France captain — we need to fight racism and defeat it all together,” he wrote.
Mbappe was born in Paris, France, to a Cameroonian father
and French-Algerian mother. Referring to French players with African ancestry
as not being French enough has often been criticised as derogatory and racist.
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