China's state broadcaster CCTV did not air Real Madrid's match on Sunday, according to both The News International and Yahoo Sport Australia, even though star striker Kylian Mbappé had already apologized for calling a meme that superimposed his face on the late Chinese leader Mao Zedong the one that makes him laugh the most.

Yahoo Sport Australia reports that Mbappé made the remark on the French talk show The Bridge, and later said, "My comment was ill-judged, and I now understand that it hurt many people in China and in Chinese communities around the world."

Real Madrid went on to beat Racing Santander 3-0 in the unaired match, with goals from Mbappé, Jude Bellingham and Yan Diomande — a star performance that Chinese viewers could not watch on state television.

The strange twist this week is that China Media Group, CCTV's parent organization, has actually acknowledged the apologies it demanded.

The broadcaster had previously called apologies from Mbappé, Real Madrid and La Liga "an absolute prerequisite" for moving past the incident, per The News International, and China's foreign ministry said it took Mbappé's apology "seriously."

Yet the blackout continues anyway: Yahoo Sport Australia reports that China Media Group has not commented on how long the suspension of La Liga broadcasts will last, leaving the league in limbo despite having met what the broadcaster called the prerequisite.

Several Chinese brands have also dropped Mbappé, so the commercial fallout extends well beyond the missing broadcasts.

Yahoo Sport Australia's reporting explains the cultural nerve the joke struck: Mao, who led the Chinese Communist Party to victory in the civil war and founded the People's Republic of China, is revered by the Communist Party despite overseeing the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution, during which a famine killed tens of millions and violent purges swept Chinese society.

Mbappé's dismissal of a meme calling him a "Chinese dictator" therefore read in China not as edgy humor but as mockery of an officially sacred figure.

The remark spread through social media and turned a casual talk-show aside into a diplomatic and commercial crisis involving a footballer, a club, an entire league and a foreign ministry.

This is not the first time Beijing has suspended sports broadcasts over political sensitivities.

According to Yahoo Sport Australia, China pulled NBA games for a full year starting in October 2019 after Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey tweeted in support of Hong Kong protesters, and Morey ultimately backtracked after fierce criticism from Chinese fans, sponsors and commercial partners, later writing that offending Chinese fans "was not my intention."

That history suggests the La Liga blackout could be a long one.

For now, the stakes run both ways: La Liga and Real Madrid have issued statements of deep regret and begun diplomatic outreach, per The News International, while Chinese fans of Spanish football wait for regulators to decide the blackout's length.