"You are a despicable woman and unworthy of your position." Kylian Mbappé doesn't usually go after politicians. When a Paraguayan senator calls him a "colonised Cameroonian" who "sucked on coconuts" as a child, he made an exception.
The senator in question is Celeste Amarilla, who spent the days following France's World Cup knockout win over Paraguay posting a series of racist attacks targeting Mbappé. The posts called him a "brute" and suggested the most educated company he'd kept as a child were chimpanzees. She has since deleted the original post, claimed to regret the insults — and, as of Thursday, is also claiming her Instagram was hacked.
The "hack" that doesn't quite add up
Amarilla announced on X that her Instagram had been compromised "possibly since this morning," distancing herself from anything posted going forward. The only visible evidence of any interference? An invalid WhatsApp link in her bio. That's it.
What makes the timing particularly hard to take seriously is that Amarilla hasn't exactly gone quiet. During a Paraguayan Senate session on Wednesday — before the claimed hack — she called Mbappé a "son of a b---" for refusing to shake goalkeeper Orlando Gill's hand after the match. She then added: "He's not French, a Frenchman wouldn't do that." Regret, apparently, has its limits.
The refusal to shake hands was indeed the spark. Mbappé taunted Paraguay's players during the game and blanked Gill at the final whistle. Ugly optics, for sure. But what followed from Amarilla crossed a line that has nothing to do with sportsmanship.
The consequences are real
French prosecutors have opened an investigation following a complaint from the French Football Federation. The cited offense carries a maximum of one year in prison and a fine of around $51,000. Amarilla, meanwhile, has threatened to sue Mbappé for "gender-based violence" and "political violence" — a legal posture that isn't landing well given the circumstances.
Paraguay's own government called her comments "contrary to the values and principles" of the country. Senate leader Basilio Nunez put it more plainly: "They aren't just bad, they're terrible and they don't represent what most Paraguayans think."
Mbappé, who earned $95 million last year and ranks 12th on Forbes' highest-paid athletes list, ended his statement with a sharper point than any legal threat: through Amarilla's racism, "the entire world has already forgotten the journey and the historic effort that your players accomplished during this World Cup."
He's not wrong. That's exactly what happened.
