{"id":2000118587,"date":"2026-07-07T13:16:51","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T11:16:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/?p=2000118587"},"modified":"2026-07-07T13:16:52","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T11:16:52","slug":"mbappe-fires-back-at-paraguayan-senator-over-racist-remarks-after-france-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/mbappe-fires-back-at-paraguayan-senator-over-racist-remarks-after-france-win\/","title":{"rendered":"Mbapp\u00e9 fires back at Paraguayan senator over racist remarks after France win"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Mbapp\u00e9 scored the decisive penalty in Saturday’s tense last-16 clash in Philadelphia to send France into the quarter-finals, where they will face Morocco. The victory, however, was overshadowed by a series of racist comments posted on social media by Amarilla, who questioned the striker’s French identity and insulted him in a lengthy online tirade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among her remarks, Amarilla described Mbapp\u00e9 as a “colonised Cameroonian, desperately trying to pass himself off as French,” while also calling him a “brute” and suggesting Paraguay’s players should have slapped him after the match.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The French forward responded forcefully on social media, accusing the senator of spreading hatred and racism while defending both himself and Paraguay’s national team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“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,” Mbapp\u00e9 wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Through your recklessness and your brazen racism, the entire world has already forgotten the journey and the historic effort your players accomplished during this World Cup, making way for an incompetent woman who gives the worst possible image of her country.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added: “I will never allow people like her the freedom to spread their hatred and racism across the world.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The incident prompted a swift response from the French Football Federation (FFF), which announced it would file a criminal complaint against Amarilla, describing her comments as “utterly abhorrent and unacceptable.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“These remarks are criminal and reprehensible. They must be prosecuted here as elsewhere,” the federation said in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The players of the French national team represent France; it is our country that is being insulted.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The controversy quickly expanded beyond football, with the Paraguayan government distancing itself from the senator’s statements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a statement, the country’s foreign ministry said it “deplores and rejects” Amarilla’s comments, describing them as contrary to the principles of peaceful coexistence and respect for human dignity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The statements of the aforementioned legislator correspond exclusively to the exercise of her individual responsibility as a member of the Legislative Branch and in no way represent the position of the Government of the Republic of Paraguay or the Paraguayan people,” the ministry said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The diplomatic fallout deepened after the office of French President Emmanuel Macron revealed that Paraguayan President Santiago Pe\u00f1a had written to express support and condemn the racist remarks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Macron also publicly backed Mbapp\u00e9, posting on X: “Another goal for Kylian Mbapp\u00e9. Against racism this time. All my support. When words smear, our values respond: dignity, respect, fraternity.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paraguay’s Congress also rejected Amarilla’s comments. Senate leader Basilio N\u00fa\u00f1ez said the remarks did not reflect the country’s values and condemned racism, xenophobia and incitement to violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The Paraguayan national team gave their all with honour and grit at the World Cup. Politics and sports should be kept separate,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

France assistant coach Guy Stephan described the remarks as “disgraceful, vile and outrageous.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amarilla later deleted her original post but demanded an apology from Mbapp\u00e9 after he called her “despicable.” In an open letter, she defended her criticism as a response to what she claimed was the France captain’s arrogance during and after the match, particularly alleging that he failed to shake hands with Paraguay’s goalkeeper after the final whistle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She insisted her disagreement was with Mbapp\u00e9 personally rather than France and threatened legal action if he did not apologise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite Amarilla’s response, the racist remarks have been widely condemned in both countries, with French authorities pursuing legal action while Paraguay’s government has sought to distance itself from the senator’s statements, emphasising that they do not reflect the views of the Paraguayan people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
France’s Kylian Mbappe celebrates after scoring from a penalty kick the opening goal during the World Cup round of 16 match between Paraguay and France in Philadelphia, July 4, 2026. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

France captain Kylian Mbapp\u00e9 has condemned racist remarks made by Paraguayan senator Celeste Amarilla after France’s 1-0 World Cup win over Paraguay, as the senator’s comments drew widespread condemnation from officials in both France and Paraguay.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":2000118590,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[151],"byline":[192],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-2000118587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-editors-choice","byline-wycliffe-nyamasege"],"bylines":[{"id":192,"name":"Wycliffe Nyamasege","slug":"wycliffe-nyamasege","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":131}],"contributors":[{"id":192,"name":"Wycliffe Nyamasege","slug":"wycliffe-nyamasege","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":131}],"featured_image":{"id":2000118590,"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/07\/MixCollage-07-Jul-2026-01-14-PM-952.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":886,"height":600,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/07\/MixCollage-07-Jul-2026-01-14-PM-952.jpg","width":886,"height":600},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/07\/MixCollage-07-Jul-2026-01-14-PM-952.jpg","width":886,"height":600},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/07\/MixCollage-07-Jul-2026-01-14-PM-952.jpg","width":886,"height":600},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/07\/MixCollage-07-Jul-2026-01-14-PM-952.jpg","width":886,"height":600},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/07\/MixCollage-07-Jul-2026-01-14-PM-952.jpg","width":886,"height":600}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000118587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2000118587"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000118587\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2000118591,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000118587\/revisions\/2000118591"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000118590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2000118587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2000118587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2000118587"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=2000118587"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=2000118587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}