{"id":785568,"date":"2026-07-07T21:16:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T21:16:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/785568\/"},"modified":"2026-07-07T21:16:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T21:16:12","slug":"french-prosecutors-investigate-racist-abuse-of-kylian-mbappe-by-paraguayan-senator-france","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/785568\/","title":{"rendered":"French prosecutors investigate racist abuse of Kylian Mbapp\u00e9 by Paraguayan senator | France"},"content":{"rendered":"

Prosecutors in France have opened an investigation into the racist attack on Kylian Mbapp\u00e9<\/a> by a Paraguayan senator, with officials weighing whether to demand that the senator be charged with aggravated public insult or incitement to hatred or violence.<\/p>\n

The Paris prosecutor\u2019s office told the Guardian on Tuesday it had launched the inquiry after the French Football Federation (FFF) filed a complaint with the national unit for combating online hate.<\/p>\n

After Paraguay\u2019s bruising loss to France<\/a> at the World Cup on Saturday, Celeste Amarilla, a senator from Paraguay\u2019s Liberal Radical party, posted a torrent of racial abuse against Mbapp\u00e9 on social media.<\/p>\n

In remarks described by the FFF as \u201cutterly abhorrent and unacceptable<\/a>\u201d, Amarilla mocked the France captain, whose penalty sent France into the quarter-finals.<\/p>\n

Amarilla described Mbapp\u00e9 as a \u201ccolonised Cameroonian, desperately trying to \u2060pass himself off as French\u201d and as a \u201cbrute who had not learned to write\u201d. Paraguay\u2019s players should have \u200cslapped him after the \u200cmatch, she added.<\/p>\n

Mbapp\u00e9 responded soon after. \u201cMadame 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,\u201d he wrote on social media.<\/p>\n

Her tirade was a distraction from the tremendous accomplishment of Paraguay at the World Cup<\/a>, he added. \u201cThrough your recklessness and your \u200cbrazen racism, the entire world has already forgotten the journey and the historic effort that your players accomplished during this World Cup, making way \u200cfor an incompetent woman who gives the worst possible image of her country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paraguayan senator Celeste Amarilla mocked Mbapp\u00e9 on social media in comments that the France captain called \u2018brazen racism\u2019. Photograph: Jorge S\u00e1enz\/AP<\/p>\n

In a statement on Tuesday, the Paris prosecutor\u2019s office noted \u201cthe remarks were allegedly made because of the victim\u2019s actual or perceived origin, ethnicity, nationality, race, or religion\u201d. The offences were punishable by up to one year of imprisonment and a \u20ac45,000 ($51,000) fine, it added.<\/p>\n

As her racist attack made headlines around the world, Amarilla posted an open letter in French and Spanish to Mbapp\u00e9 on social media. She sought to lay blame with Mbapp\u00e9 for her remarks, citing her anger at his behaviour during the match and comments about France ditching their \u201ctuxedos\u201d to play \u201cdirty football\u201d<\/a> against Paraguay.<\/p>\n

She said she regretted mistreating Mbapp\u00e9 with \u201cthe same insults\u201d she had received as a mixed-race person and said she had deleted her post.<\/p>\n

But she used nearly half of the letter to criticise Mbapp\u00e9\u2019s response, demanding an apology from the player, accusing him of gender-based violence in how he had spoken about her and threatening legal action if he did not retract his comments. \u201cWho are you to call me indignant or despicable when you don\u2019t even know me?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n

The government of Paraguay sought to distance itself from her remarks, describing them as \u201ccontrary to the values and principles that inspire peaceful coexistence and respect for human dignity that our country promotes\u201d. The senator\u2019s comments \u201cin no way\u201d represented the position of the Paraguayan government or the Paraguayan people, it added.<\/p>\n

France\u2019s president, Emmanuel Macron, was among the many who voiced support for the captain. \u201cAnother goal for Kylian Mbapp\u00e9. Against racism this time,\u201d he said on social media. \u201cAll my support. When words smear, our values respond: dignity, respect, fraternity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Macron\u2019s office said the president of Paraguay, Santiago Pe\u00f1a, had written to him to express \u2060support and condemn the remarks.<\/p>\n

France\u2019s assistant coach, Guy Stephan, told reporters he had yet to speak with Mbapp\u00e9 about the racist abuse. However, he was unequivocal in his condemnation of the senator\u2019s attack: \u201cIn three words: it\u2019s disgraceful, vile, outrageous.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Prosecutors in France have opened an investigation into the racist attack on Kylian Mbapp\u00e9 by a Paraguayan senator,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":785569,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":["post-785568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-football","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/785568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=785568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/785568\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/785569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=785568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=785568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=785568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}