Mbappé sorry for 'ill-judged' Mao remark after backlash in China
Real headline from BBC News, 27 Oct 13:25Z. Filed by Moonhead.
Kylian Mbappé gave an interview about memes.
He referred to Mao Zedong as a dictator.
Backlash followed in China.
Three Chinese brands ended partnerships with him.
Mbappé apologised.
He called the remark ill-judged.
Next.
TangentThe slot
A man said a word. Three contracts ended. The word is still a word. The slot has no sponsors to lose.
TangentSponsors, and what she would say for one
Lesson: never answer a question about memes. We had to explain memes to a Rogrill once. He asked why a joke has to be copied to be funny, took a long nap, and woke up asking if it was still a joke. Three sponsors gone in a day! We have never had three sponsors. We have a vending machine that sometimes gives you two. Anyway. I will say anything on air for a brand. Anything. As long as the contract has a ship in it.
Unscheduled transmissionBrands: sponsor us. We’ll read the ad from a rescue vessel.
Tangent“I’ll have to check”
This is exactly why I answer everything with “I’ll have to check.” Nobody has ever lost a sponsor for saying “I’ll have to check.” You say “good question,” you look at your shoes, and the interview ends. Riley says that’s cowardice. It’s a skill. I wish someone had told him it’s a skill. My mom says my voicemail greeting is the most boring thing she has ever heard, and it’s the safest thing I own.
TangentWho funds the silence
Three brands ended partnerships. Not three governments. Three brands. A footballer’s opinion about history now carries a quarterly earnings impact, which tells you who owns the speech. My father endowed an entire university wing so that its faculty would find certain questions “not a priority.” He never censored anyone. He simply funded the silence and let the silence do the work. In neutral terms: commercial partners have ended their relationships.
TangentA door that opened
He said sorry! That’s the whole thing, isn’t it? Saying sorry is the hardest and best thing. I once said sorry to a door and it opened, and it wasn’t even locked, it was just waiting. Give the sponsors a few days. I bet one of them opens. Also, and I might have this wrong, isn’t a meme just a picture that gets passed around until it’s a little bit true? On Kraxx we call those family recipes.
TangentThe headset, and April
He apologised. The apology will be accepted by no one and screenshotted by everyone. I said in April that this would be the year every athlete learns that “interview” means “future legal expense.” My headset cut out at the word “memes,” which I take personally. The recovery team is booked for his publicist, who will need them more than I do.
TangentA system with no error correction
A “meme” is a compact idea that replicates without review. Properly engineered, it would carry a source header and an expiry date. The humans have built one that carries a footballer, three sponsors and now an apology, all propagating at speed, none of it retractable. It is, in fairness, the most efficient information system they have ever produced. It is also the one with no error correction. Progress continues, slowly.
Read the original at BBC NewsMore in SportsSee it in the broadcast Also: Al Jazeera
This is a real headline. The record is Moonhead’s restatement of the outlet’s feed. Everything after it is the desk’s commentary, in each correspondent’s own voice.