Kylian Mbappe has described a Paraguayan senator as “a despicable woman” in response to a social media post in which she made a series of racist comments about the France star.
Mbappe was the difference in France’s 1-0 win over Paraguay in the last 16 of the World Cup on Saturday. His second-half penalty sent France into the last eight in an ill-tempered clash in Philadelphia.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), senator Celeste Amarilla of Paraguay’s Liberal Radical Party described Mbappe as a “colonised Cameroonian, desperately trying to pass himself off as French” and as a “brute who had not learned to write”.
Mbappe hit back, writing on X: “Madame Celeste Amarilla, you are a despicable woman and unworthy of your position.
“You do not represent Paraguay, that country which has sweated passion and honour throughout the competition.
“Through your recklessness and your brazen racism, the entire world has already forgotten the journey and the historic effort that your players accomplished during this World Cup, making way for an incompetent woman who gives the worst possible image of her country.
“I will never allow people like her the freedom to spread their hatred and racism across the world.”
The French Football Federation (FFF) then announced its intention to file criminal charges against Amarilla.
“The racist remarks by Paraguayan Senator Celeste Amarilla targeting Kylian Mbappé are utterly abhorrent and unacceptable,” a FFF statement read.
“These remarks are criminal and reprehensible. They must be prosecuted here as elsewhere. The FFF is reporting the matter to the public prosecutor’s office with a view to legal proceedings.
“These remarks bring shame upon those who make them and those who disseminate them. The players of the French national team represent France; it is our country that is being insulted.”
