The Mbappe controversy demonstrates how market power in sport is being used to enforce conformity. Senior Editor for Inclusive Storytelling at The New Humanitarian. French football superstar Kylian Mbappe recently landed in trouble over a meme. Discussing an image that apparently superimposed his face on Mao Zedong’s, he referred to the late Chinese leader as someone he thought was a dictator, without naming Mao. The offhand remark became an international controversy.