Paraguayan Senator Gets Shockingly Racist Toward Kylian Mbappé

Heading into the 2026 World Cup, one of FIFA's points of focus was curbing on-field racism. That is the genesis of the "covered your mouth" red card that so far has taken out Ecuador's Piero Hincapié and Paraguay's Miguel Almirón. The logic was sound: Players are probably less likely to do a racismo if their lips can be easily read in the moment, potentially heading off the kind of paralytic he-said-he-said that protected Benfica's Gianluca Prestianni in his racism incident with Vinícius last season.

Alas, FIFA's anti-racism protocols hold no sway in the real world, and they especially have no jurisdiction in the realm of good old-fashioned politician racism. Enter Paraguayan senator Celeste Amarilla, a member of the country's center-left Partido Liberal Radical Auténtico party, who posted (and later deleted) a brutally offensive rant directed at Kylian Mbappé following Paraguay's 1-0 loss to France. As translated by The Madrid Zone:

This brute hasn't even learned to write. Instead of breastmilk, he grew up sucking on coconuts, and the most educated creatures he ever heard were chimpanzees.

You should've given him the middle finger, Orlando Gill (Paraguay GK).

A colonized Cameroonian, pretending to be French, resentful, newly rich, arrogant, and ugly.

He was nervous and scared to death all game, like his whole team. They didn't even manage to score a single goal, until they got lucky with a penalty.

The only thing many of us blame the team for is not giving him a full-handed slap at the end of the game. I'm not even a football fan.

I don't want to generalize an entire continent, but speaking from personal experience, South American racism, particularly from Amarilla's generation, is often either of the "this is just how we talk" kind (see: Luis Suárez's old "we call everybody 'negro' in Uruguay!" thing), or the kind Amarilla is displaying here: something so ignorant, offensive, and open that it could only be born from never encountering black people in the real world. For reference, Paraguay's population is only about 0.1 percent black. Of course, this lack of exposure to black people in no way excuses the racism, and as we'll soon see, Amarilla herself felt no need to find excuses.

To his credit, Mbappé made a point to call Amarilla out in no uncertain terms, posting a lengthy message in French admonishing her:

In the post, Mbappé calls Amarilla a "despicable" woman who is "unworthy of her position," and that her racism has robbed the spotlight from the Parguayan team, which Mbappé credits with "historic effort" in their journey to the round of 16. The post ends with Mbappé saying he will "never allow people like her the freedom to spread hatred and racism across the world."

On Monday, the Paraguayan government's ministry of foreign relations also rebuked Amarilla's comments, saying that the government "deplores and rejects" her comments as "contrary to the values and principles that inspire peaceful cohabitation, as well as the respect for human dignity that our country promotes."

With the entire world mad at her, including her own government, surely Amarilla backed down, right? Right?? Though she did delete the original post, she later doubled down on Monday night, posting an open letter in both Spanish and French directed at Mbappé.

The letter is a doozy. She started by saying her problem is directly with Mbappé and not his country, as she went to a French school and "loves to visit France." Apparently she can't be racist, because some of her best vacations were to where some black people live! She then tried to insinuate that Mbappé was mocking Paraguay's team, referencing that Mbappé did not shake hands with goalie Orlando Gill after the game (Mbappé was celebrating, and Gill threw the ball at his back after not getting a handshake). Amarilla also claimed it was actually Mbappé who was looking down on her and her "mestizo blood," and accused him of gender violence for calling her "a despicable woman." The letter is a masterclass in making yourself out to be the victim, except it's like failing the masterclass and then shitting yourself when you receive your grade.

Amarilla did take time in the letter to say that she was somewhat ashamed of the original post, which she wrote when she was angry at Mbappé's "arrogance" after the game, so that's something. Surely that will be the end of it ...

Nope! On Tuesday, Amarilla held a press conference to address this whole mess of her own creation, and while she did not double down, her reasoning was convoluted at best. She said she comes from a generation where calling someone a "black shit" was totally normal, and that she is now trying to "deconstruct myself." Amarilla added that she has not received an apology from Mbappé, which she demanded in her open letter, and so she will not be apologizing for her comments. She then threatened legal action, bringing up Ronaldinho's prison stint in Paraguay as an example of, apparently, the country not being afraid to come after soccer players. For what, exactly, Amarilla never makes clear. What she does make clear, and what this whole situation makes clear, is that Mbappé was being quite measured and accurate when he called her despicable. It would be nice if all of this meant that Paraguayan politics will soon show Amarilla a roja directa. But who are we kidding? With his history both in red cards and South American politics, Donald Trump would probably step in and overturn that one too.