A post-World Cup racist incident has sparked a formal criminal investigation in France, after a Paraguayan senator targeted star French forward Kylian Mbappé with vitriolic, racially-charged abuse following Paraguay’s narrow knockout-stage defeat last weekend.
The controversy erupted Saturday, immediately after Mbappé converted a decisive penalty kick to secure France’s 1-0 win over Paraguay, which pushed the defending champions into the tournament’s quarterfinals. Celeste Amarilla, a sitting senator from Paraguay’s main opposition Liberal Radical Party, took to social media platform X to publish inflammatory comments attacking Mbappé. In her since-deleted post, she mocked the 25-year-old captain’s racial origins, childhood upbringing, education, and physical appearance.
By Tuesday, the Paris Prosecutor’s Office confirmed to the Associated Press that it had opened a full investigation into two potential offenses: aggravated public insult and incitement to racial hatred or violence. The probe was launched after France’s national unit targeting online hate speech received a formal complaint filed by the French Football Federation (FFF).
Under French law, the offenses being investigated carry severe maximum penalties: up to one year of prison sentence and a €45,000 fine (equivalent to roughly $51,000). Prosecutors confirmed the alleged remarks qualify as bias-motivated offending, as they were targeted at Mbappé specifically on the basis of his perceived origin, ethnicity, nationality, and race.
Mbappé responded quickly to the attack, denouncing Amarilla in a public statement as a “despicable woman” “unworthy” of holding a seat in Paraguay’s national congress. The comment triggered a counter-backlash from Amarilla, who later issued a half-hearted open letter to Mbappé posted to social media in both French and Spanish.
In the letter, Amarilla claimed her criticism was directed solely at Mbappé as an individual, not at the nation of France. She acknowledged she regretted using the same type of derogatory insults against Mbappé that she had been subjected to as a mixed-race person, and confirmed she had removed the original abusive post. However, she simultaneously demanded an apology from Mbappé, accusing him of gender-based violence in his critical remarks, and threatened to file her own legal action against the player if he refused to retract his comments.
Official responses from both governments and football governing bodies have been uniformly condemnatory of Amarilla’s actions. The Paraguayan government released an official statement on Monday afternoon distancing itself entirely from the senator’s comments, noting that her words “do not represent either the Paraguayan government or the Paraguayan people.” It added that her remarks ran counter to the core values of peaceful coexistence and respect for human dignity that Paraguay publicly promotes.
The FFF issued its own strong rebuke, describing Amarilla’s comments as “utterly abhorrent” and “unacceptable” in a public statement. Top French political leaders have also rallied to support Mbappé: French President Emmanuel Macron and Sports Minister Marina Ferrari both publicly voiced their solidarity with the France captain following the incident. France is set to face Morocco in the World Cup quarterfinals this Thursday as the team continues its pursuit of a second consecutive world title.