Kylian Mbappé has landed at the centre of a political storm that reaches well beyond the pitch. His remarks about the late Chinese leader Mao Zedong have triggered fury in China, yet the France captain is now drawing unexpected backing from the United States.
John Moolenaar, chairman of the committee on Chinese affairs in the US House of Representatives, reckons the Real Madrid forward has nothing to apologise for.
According to French outlet "Foot Mercato", his intervention drags the row into the wider political tensions between Washington and Beijing.
The fallout has snowballed since the controversial video surfaced, in which Mbappé branded the Chinese leader a dictator. Several Chinese brands have torn up their partnerships with him. The Chinese Football Association has lodged a protest, and a Chinese media group has demanded a public apology from Real Madrid, holding the club responsible for its player's words.
Real Madrid, La Liga president Javier Tebas and Mbappé himself all issued apologies to China in a bid to defuse the crisis that has raged over the past two days.
Moolenaar sees it very differently. He is determined to condemn what he considers a surrender to the Chinese regime.
In a statement from the Select Committee on China, the Republican representative for Michigan backed the French forward in no uncertain terms, saying: "World football star Kylian Mbappé should not apologise for calling Mao Zedong a dictator. Mao was a dictator, and he caused harm to the Chinese people far greater than any comment a footballer could make."
"His dictatorship and catastrophic policies claimed the lives of tens of millions of Chinese during the Cultural Revolution, the Great Famine and other atrocities," he added.
Moolenaar then turned his fire on the companies that walked away from Mbappé to protect their commercial interests, saying: "The real shame in this story is the companies that rush to apologise so they can continue doing business in China."