Photo: Buda Mendes / Getty Images Sport / Getty Images
A Paraguayan senator launched a racist tirade against Kylian Mbappé after France eliminated Paraguay from the World Cup. Now, facing a criminal complaint from the French Football Federation, she’s threatening legal action against him, accusing Mbappé of gender-based violence.
The sequence of events began Saturday (July 4), when Mbappé's penalty in the 70th minute lifted France to a 1-0 round-of-16 victory over Paraguay in Philadelphia.
Hours later, Senator Celeste Amarilla of Paraguay's Authentic Radical Liberal Party posted a lengthy, racist attack on X targeting the French captain, describing him as a "colonized Cameroonian, desperately trying to pass himself off as French" and a "brute" who had not learned to write. She also suggested Paraguay's players should have physically confronted him after the match.
Mbappé responded directly on Monday (July 6), posting a statement on X that addressed Amarilla by name.
"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," he wrote. "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 French Football Federation escalated the matter Monday, announcing it would file a criminal complaint with the French prosecutor's office over what it called remarks that are "utterly abhorrent and unacceptable."
According to ESPN, the Paris prosecutor's office confirmed Tuesday (July 7) that it launched a probe after the national unit for combating online hate received the FFF's complaint on charges of aggravated public insult and incitement to hatred or violence.
The condemnation was swift and widespread. French President Emmanuel Macron posted on X: "Another goal for Kylian Mbappé. Against racism this time. All my support. When words smear, our values respond: dignity, respect, fraternity."
French Sports Minister Marina Ferrari called Amarilla's posts an attack on "everything our captain embodies and everything our country stands for: liberty, equality and fraternity," per Al Jazeera.
France assistant coach Guy Stephan described the situation in three words: "Disgraceful, vile, outrageous.”
The Paraguayan government also distanced itself, saying it "deplores and rejects" Amarilla's statements and that they "in no way represent the position of the Government of the Republic of Paraguay.”
Then came the reversal — and the counterpunch. In an open letter posted in French and Spanish on social media, Amarilla retracted some of her original remarks, saying her posts were "written in the heat of the moment" and that her "mixed-race blood was boiling," per ESPN. But she did not back down entirely.
She accused Mbappé of "arrogance and contempt" during the match, specifically citing what she called his "refusal to shake hands with our goalkeeper" as the initial source of her anger. She then accused Mbappé himself of "gender-based violence" for calling her a "despicable woman," demanded a public apology from him, and threatened legal action against him.
The complaint against Amarilla remains active in France. The investigation is ongoing.
The incident also followed earlier racist comments from former Paraguay goalkeeper José Luis Chilavert, who referred to France's squad before the match as "a squad from Africa," prompting the FFF president to call him a "disgrace.”
Mbappé has scored seven goals in the tournament, tied for the most alongside Lionel Messi and Erling Haaland. France faces Morocco in the quarterfinals Thursday (July 9) in Boston.
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