Kylian Mbappe loses two major China sponsorship deals over Mao Zedong joke

NEW: Kylian Mbappe dropped by two major Chinese sponsors, Dongpeng and Mengniu, after a video surfaced of him appearing to joke about former leader Mao Zedong.

Mbappe just lost two Chinese sponsors over a Mao Zedong joke.

A video surfaced of the Real Madrid forward saying the funniest meme he'd ever seen was his own face photoshopped onto, in his words, some guy, I think he's a Chinese dictator. That guy was Mao. China did not laugh.

Energy drink giant Dongpeng and Mengniu, the country's biggest dairy producer, both pulled the plug within hours, each citing zero tolerance for anything that hurts the feelings of the Chinese people. The Dongpeng split was the top trend on Weibo by Tuesday morning.

And the timing is brutal. He scored twice to beat Barcelona in the Clasico this weekend, then lost the Ballon d'Or to Harry Kane on Monday, and now this on Tuesday. Rough week for the best player not to win the award.

One offhand line in one video, and two national-scale sponsorships gone before breakfast.

This is Angel Manalo, reporting for HIT.