About

Dictator Mbappé is a nickname and series of memes referring to French football player Kylian Mbappé depicted as a dictator. The memes began as early as 2024, when Mbappe threatened to sue French influencer Mohamed Henni, who responded by saying Mbappe was "turning his name into a dictatorship." Meme edits that put Mbappe in dictator outfits, using AI video and Photoshop, became increasingly popularized over the following years.

In early April 2026, a rumor that Mbappé disliked the memes and the nickname began spreading online, although the veracity was unconfirmed. The rumor resulted in an example of the Streisand Effect, causing a resurgence in Dictator Mbappe memes.

Origin

On March 15th, 2024, Goal.com^[1] published an article claiming that Mbappé's lawyers sent a legal notice to French influencer Mohamed Henni for naming a kebab dish after him. The dish was named "Bakery bread, as round as Mbappe's head." The French influencer compared Mbappe to a dictator and was quoted as saying:

"He filed a complaint against me for that! For a kebab. 'Mba – complaint' Mbappe, he's turned his name into a dictatorship. Mbappe, 'Mba – round bread'. Over a kebab. Aren't you ashamed, Kylian? You've got nothing else to do. Mbappe attacks more in the court than on the pitch. Now I'm going to change the description and say that the bread is as round as 'his big hazelnut head'. Or bread as round 'as the Ballon d'Or you'll never get'. Kiki, you'll never win it. I'll go all the way! All the way to the trial. You say that football has changed, but it's you who has changed Kylian. It's you who's forgotten where you come from. You've forgotten your values."

On November 17th, Redditor TheSefi76 posted an edit of Mbappé as dictator Mao to the /r/soccercirclejerk^[2] subreddit, gaining about 112 upvotes in about two years. This is the earliest known edit of Mbappé as a dictator.

Spread

In January 2026, Real Madrid parted ways with manager Xabi Alonso. Rumors spread claiming that Mbappé got Alonso fired, fuelled by a video of Mbappé refusing Alonso and Real Madrid a guard of honor.^[3] Purportedly, Mbappé did not play a role in getting Alonso fired.^[4] This incident increased the perception of Mbappé as a dictator.

On March 23rd, 2026, TikToker^[5] @life_of_marvel_shocker posted a video edit that refers to Mbappé as Dictator Mbappé and shows him interacting with several players who were sold or traded, followed by several edits of him as a dictator, garnering over 13.2 million views in about two weeks. This edit helped cause a surge in the popularity of the memes.

On March 25th, TikToker^[6] @the.godfather.meh posted a video consisting of several dictator edits of Mbappé that gained over 1.6 million views in two weeks.

On April 2nd, the X^[7] / Twitter page @TFRHQ5 posted a report claiming that Mbappé is "unhappy with the ongoing trend referring to him as 'The Dictator'" and that he "contacted FIFA to take action or he could consider stepping away from football altogether." The post gained over 14,000 likes in five days, but it is unconfirmed to be true.

On April 5th, 2026, TikToker^[8] @dagi_daga_433 posted a video edit playing into the Dictator Mbappé memes, garnering over 3.2 million views in two days.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References