Paraguayan senator Celeste Amarilla called Kylian Mbappé a "colonised Cameroonian, desperately trying to pass himself off as French" after France knocked Paraguay out of the World Cup. Three days later, she was claiming her Instagram had been hacked. Two hours after that, the same account posted: "I got my Instagram back 2 hours ago! France, you can keep on annoying me!"
The sequence tells you everything you need to know about how this week has gone for her.
How a senator went from pundit to international incident
It started with France's 1-0 Round of 16 win over Paraguay. Amarilla took to social media and unloaded — calling Mbappé a "brute who had not learned to write," among other remarks that left very little room for interpretation. Mbappé responded by labeling her a "despicable woman" who was "unworthy of her position" and accusing her of "brazen racism."
From there, the fallout moved fast. French prosecutors opened a formal investigation following a complaint from the French Football Federation. The offense carries a penalty of up to one year in prison and a €45,000 fine. FIFA president Gianni Infantino said "all of football and society stand in solidarity with the France captain." Paraguay's Senate publicly distanced itself from Amarilla's comments. So did the Paraguayan government. The UN human rights office and WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus both released condemnations.
That is a remarkable amount of institutional firepower aimed at one senator's social media activity.
A contradictory response that keeps shifting
Amarilla's reaction has been difficult to pin down. She expressed regret for using insults she said she'd experienced herself as a mixed-race woman — while simultaneously demanding Mbappé apologize to her and threatening legal action, framing his response as "gender-based violence" and "political violence against a woman."
In a later interview, she conceded her original remarks "were racist" and "unfortunate," though she stopped short of a direct apology. "I'm trying to build a different Celeste Amarilla," she told reporters. Her attorney is reportedly exploring whether Mbappé's comments constitute criminal defamation under Paraguayan law.
On the pitch, Mbappé has been rather less distracted than his opponents in this dispute. He scored in France's 2-0 quarterfinal win over Morocco on Thursday — the same match Amarilla mocked him for missing a penalty — and now sits level with Lionel Messi at the top of the Golden Boot race as France advance to the semifinals.
French prosecutors are still investigating. The senator is threatening lawsuits. And Mbappé keeps scoring.
