French forward Kylian Mbappé has hit back at Paraguayan Senator Celeste Amarilla after the lawmaker launched a racist tirade against the footballer following France’s victory over Paraguay in the round of 16 at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
The 27-year-old Real Madrid player scored the only goal of the match on Saturday as France advanced to the quarter-finals of the World Cup, while Paraguay’s journey came to an end in North America.
Many football fans were displeased with the antics of Paraguayans during the match as they targeted French players, including Mbappe by deliberately hard fouling them in an attempt to incite provocation, which was largely ignored.
Following the fulltime whistle, Mbappe appeared to have ignored a handshake from Paraguayan goalkeeper Orlando Gill, which Ms Amarilla apparently took as an offence, calling the French forward ugly and a colonised Cameroonian.
She proceeded to resort to racial insults, saying that the most advanced creatures Mbappe ever encountered growing up were chimpanzees.
“This brute hasn’t even learned to write. Instead of breastmilk, he grew up sucking on coconuts, and the most educated creatures he ever heard were chimpanzees. You should’ve given him the middle finger, Orlando Gill (Paraguay GK).
“A colonized Cameroonian, pretending to be French, resentful, newly rich, arrogant, and ugly. He was nervous and scared to death all game, like his whole team. They didn’t even manage to score a single goal, until they got lucky with a penalty. The only thing many of us blame the team for is not giving him a full-handed slap at the end of the game. I’m not even a football fan,” Ms Amarilla said in one of her posts on X.
Immediately, Mbappe, who has never shied away to speak on political and social issues, took to social media to respond to Ms Amarilla’s remarks, describing her as a despicable person and unworthy of holding public office.
“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 honor throughout the competition,” the player posted.
He added, “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 lawmaker has since reacted to Mbappe’s remarks, noting that she regretted writing the racist posts but demanded that the player retract his statement about her, describing it as gender violence.
“However, I immediately regretted responding to you with the same insults that I myself receive. I realised I was repeating the very behavior I despise, so I deleted the post. I understand that my words offended you because humiliation hurts.
“Now I demand that you also retract your statements and apologize to me. I will not tolerate your violence either. You do not know me. You have no idea who I am, and you have no right to say that I AM A DESPICABLE WOMAN, UNWORTHY OF THE OFFICE I HOLD,” Ms Amarilla added.
Meanwhile, Ms Amarilla’ action has attracted widespread condemnation from other Paraguay politicians as well as the country’s government, which stated that it “deplores and rejects the statements made by Senator Celeste Amarilla, directed at the captain of the French national football team, Kylian Mbappe.”
The French President Emmanuel Macron and French football federation (FFF) have both expressed their support for Mbappe. The FFF vowed to file criminal complaints against the lawmaker over the comments.
“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,” the federation stated.
