{"id":47048,"date":"2026-07-07T00:38:21","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T00:38:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/47048\/"},"modified":"2026-07-07T00:38:21","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T00:38:21","slug":"frances-kylian-mbappe-calls-out-paraguayan-senators-brazen-racism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/47048\/","title":{"rendered":"France’s Kylian Mbapp\u00e9 calls out Paraguayan senator’s ‘brazen racism’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

French soccer superstar Kylian Mbapp\u00e9<\/a> took to social media Monday to respond to racist remarks a Paraguayan senator made following her country\u2019s 1-0 loss to France<\/a> in a World Cup<\/a> knockout round game over the weekend.<\/p>\n

Mbapp\u00e9 called Celeste Amarilla, a 61-year-old senator from Paraguay\u2019s Liberal Radical Party, \u201ca despicable woman and unworthy\u201d of her position.<\/p>\n

And he was just getting started.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou do not represent Paraguay, that country which has sweated passion and honor throughout the competition,\u201d Mbapp\u00e9 wrote on X<\/a>. \u201cThrough 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will never allow people like her the freedom to spread their hatred and racism across the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 27-year-old French captain scored the only goal of Saturday\u2019s round of 16 game on a penalty kick in the 70th minute. Mbapp\u00e9 is tied with Argentina\u2019s Lionel Messi<\/a> and Norway\u2019s Erling Haaland<\/a> with a tournament-high seven goals. He also has 19 overall World Cup goals, one behind Messi for the all-time record.<\/p>\n

Amarilla apparently wasn\u2019t impressed, taking to both Instagram<\/a> and X<\/a> to make comments<\/a> about Mbapp\u00e9 \u2018s cultural background, appearance, education and more. She did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Times.<\/p>\n

The Paraguayan government said in a statement Monday that it \u201cdeplores and rejects\u201d the senator\u2019s remarks.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese statements are contrary to the values and principles that inspire peaceful coexistence and respect for human dignity, which our country promotes,\u201d it said, adding that Amarilla\u2019s words \u201cin no way represent the position of the Government of the Republic of Paraguay or of the Paraguayan people.\u201d<\/p>\n

The French Football Federation said in a statement<\/a> that Amarilla\u2019s comments were racist, as well as \u201cutterly despicable and unacceptable\u201d and \u201ccriminal and reprehensible.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cThese remarks are abhorrent, unworthy, and all the more unacceptable given that they come from a political figure. In the face of racism, we will not remain silent,\u201d France\u2019s sports minister Marina Ferrari wrote on X<\/a>. \u201cBy targeting Kylian Mbapp\u00e9, the senator is attacking everything our captain embodies and everything our country stands for: liberty, equality, and fraternity.\u201d<\/p>\n

France plays Morocco in the World Cup quarterfinals Thursday in Foxborough, Mass.<\/p>\n

The Associated Press contributed to this report.<\/p>\n