Kylian Mbappé has addressed the wave of social media memes portraying him as a dictator, admitting that while he can appreciate the humour behind some of them, others make him uncomfortable because of the historical figures they reference.
The Real Madrid and France star became the subject of numerous edited and AI-generated images during the 2026 World Cup, with some depicting him in military uniforms, sitting on a throne or alongside notorious authoritarian leaders. The memes play on the long-running online caricature of Mbappé as a powerful figure who supposedly has an unusual level of influence over the teams he represents.
Speaking in an interview with France Football,with excerpts published by L’Équipe, Mbappé said he understands that much of the trend is intended as harmless entertainment.
“There’s a part of it that’s funny because you can tell that, for some people, it’s good-natured,” he explained.
However, the French captain believes the joke becomes much more uncomfortable when it moves beyond a football caricature and begins linking him directly with people responsible for atrocities and widespread suffering.
Mbappé made it clear that his main problem is not with being mocked or turned into a meme, but with the historical weight behind some of the comparisons.
“There’s also a part that’s a little less funny because we know the damage that people like that have caused throughout history,” Mbappé said.
He added that being compared with people responsible for murder and for making millions of lives miserable was something he found difficult to dismiss simply as humour.
“I don’t think I’ve done that in my life,” the 27-year-old said.
For Mbappé, the trend therefore sits somewhere between internet humour and something considerably more serious. He acknowledged that most users sharing the images are unlikely to intend the full historical implications of the comparison, but argued that this is precisely where the problem lies.
“I know it’s done in a light-hearted way and that it doesn’t go that far, but sometimes it shows a lack of political and human awareness among people,” he said.
Mbappé also drew a distinction between the wider social media trend and the jokes made by his France teammate Ousmane Dembélé.
Dembélé has jokingly referred to Mbappé as “Mobut,” a reference to Mobutu Sese Seko, the longtime authoritarian ruler of Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The nickname has subsequently become part of the online jokes surrounding Mbappé and his supposed authority within the French national team.
Mbappé, though, said he does not view Dembélé’s use of the nickname in the same way.
“With Ousmane, it’s different,” he explained. “He picked it up from social media. With him, it’s just a joke.”
His response suggests that context and intention matter. Mbappé appears comfortable being teased by teammates and understands why the exaggerated image of him has become part of football’s online culture. What he objects to is the point at which the joke loses that context and places a footballer alongside historical figures associated with violence, repression and human suffering.
