‘You despise me because I’m a woman’: Paraguayan senator fires back at Kylian Mbappé after racist row

Kylian Mbappé and Paraguayan senator Celeste Amarilla (Agency Image) Paraguayan senator Celeste Amarilla has demanded a public apology from France captain Kylian Mbappé and warned she may take legal action after the footballer called her a “despicable woman” over racist remarks she made following Paraguay’s exit from the World Cup.The row began after Amarilla posted offensive comments on social media following France’s round of 16 victory over Paraguay, referring to Mbappé as a “colonized Cameroonian” who “hardly pretends to be French, angry, nouveau riche, arrogant and ugly”. She also claimed that France “won by accident and Mbappe was nervous and scared to death the whole game, as was his whole team”.

by Kylian Mbappé

Mbappé responded by calling Amarilla a “despicable woman” who is “not worthy” to serve in the Paraguayan Congress.Amarilla has now issued a lengthy response to X, insisting her criticism was only aimed at Mbappé and not at France, a country she says she has admired all her life.“The problem is between you and me. I have never said anything against France, on the contrary, I am with you. From the age of two until I was seventeen, I studied at a French school and finished school there. I am who I am because of the Collège de l’Inmaculee Concepcion, and I am here because of our education, which she gave me when I visited France. We spoke French and sang La Marsilla. Last Christmas I spent with my family in Courchevel and New Year we welcomed in Saint-Tropez, the problem is you,” wrote Amarilla.The senator accused Mbappé of disrespecting Paraguay before and during the World Cup clash, pointing to remarks she interpreted as offensive.“Your arrogance and disdain got on my nerves even before the match when you said: If we’re going to get our hands dirty, we’re going to get dirty.” We are not stupid; we understand perfectly well that the dirty one was the Paraguayan team and that we are all the Paraguayan team. Then you said they were going to remove the makeup. We also understand that you look so elegant with makeup and we, poor and rough as we are, don’t even know what it is. All of Paraguay fell silent, including me. We took it,” she added.Amarilla also claimed that Mbappé displayed poor sportsmanship during and after the match.“During the match, your arrogant behavior was evident, your disdain for every player as if they were disgusting, and without covering your mouth when you said ‘La concha de tu madre’, which is an extremely aggressive phrase in Latin America, and you know it.”She further claimed that Mbappé did not show respect to the Paraguay goalkeeper after the final whistle.“And finally, you had no regard for the health of our goalkeeper. This is simply unacceptable. Respect between opponents after a match is almost sacred, in war as in peace, in defeat as in victory, and you did not shake his hand and shout in his face your victory – this is simply unacceptable. You showed your contempt, your arrogance, your arrogance to the whole of France and it hurt me deeply and your pathetic behavior. She should call you to responsibility, as it is a nation of knights with centuries of history and expertise, France should hold you accountable for your conduct,” she wrote.Amarilla acknowledged that she has since deleted her original post after reflecting on the language she used.“My posts were full of hot blood, that mixed race blood, that beautiful mixture of indigenous blood with the Spanish blood that flows in my veins. That’s what I wrote about today’s posts when you mocked those tremendous Paraguayan players who fought on equal terms until the end of the match. But I immediately regretted treating you badly with the same insults and contempt that I receive for being mixed races I regretted it and deleted the post I realized I was repeating patterns I hate and deleted it because it bothers you because it’s demeaning.Despite this admission, the senator insisted that Mbappé must also retract his remarks.“Now I ask that you also retract your statement and apologize to me. I will not tolerate your violence either. You do not know me, you have no idea who I am, and you have no right to say that I am a despicable woman, unworthy of the position I hold. I am a senator of the Paraguayan nation, elected by the people. Before that, I was also an elected deputy of Paraguay and the deputies behind me. and consider me their voice. My primary obligation is to be the voice of the Paraguayan people, to speak out against their silence and defend my country with my life,” Amarilla wrote.She went on to defend her democratic mandate.“I represent my country because I was elected in a free election. I was freely elected to make its laws and be its voice. You have no idea what it means to be elected to defend your country, to be the voice of the people. I was elected a national senator; I don’t know if you realize the importance of my position.”Concluding her statement, Amarilla accused Mbappé of political and gender-based violence and warned that she was considering legal action if he did not apologize.“Who are you to call me unworthy or despicable when you don’t even know me?! Pure and simple gender violence! Political violence against a woman who got where she is with the popular vote of her people. You despise me precisely because of my gender, you insult me precisely because I am a woman. You do not attack my skin color, my preferences, my position as a woman, my status as a woman, my statement, my French citizenship and I apologize for me, my political position.” legal action for gender-based violence,” Amarilla concluded.