Paris prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation into racist remarks made by Paraguayan senator Celeste Amarilla against French captain Kylian Mbappé, with France's national unit for combating online hate now involved in the probe, according to AP News.

The case began after Paraguay's 1-0 World Cup round-of-16 loss to France on July 4 at Philadelphia Stadium — a penalty by Mbappé decided the match. Amarilla, a senator from the Authentic Radical Liberal Party, posted a series of comments on X (formerly Twitter) in the days after, mocking Mbappé's Cameroonian heritage, his upbringing, his appearance and his education. At one point she called him a "colonized Cameroonian, desperately trying to pass himself off as" French, per NBC News. These posts built on earlier comments from former Paraguay goalkeeper Jose Luis Chilavert, who had described France's squad before the match as "a squad from Africa," according to Al Jazeera.

Mbappé responded publicly. On July 6, he posted on X: "Madame Celeste Amarilla, you are a despicable woman and unworthy of your position," saying she does not represent Paraguay and accusing her of "recklessness" and "brazen racism." He wrote that he "will never allow people like her the freedom to spread their hatred and racism across the world" — a post that quickly circulated via AP, BBC News and The Athletic.

Amarilla's response came later that day in an open letter published in both French and Spanish. She said she had deleted her original posts and expressed regret for using insults similar to what she claims to have experienced herself as a mixed-race person. But the letter also pivoted: she accused Mbappé of "gender-based violence" in his response, demanded an apology from him, and threatened legal action, per Al Jazeera.

French leadership moved swiftly to support their captain. President Emmanuel Macron posted on X: "One more goal for Kylian Mbappé. This time against racism," pledging his "full support." Sports Minister Marina Ferrari wrote that "by targeting Kylian Mbappé, the senator is attacking everything our captain embodies and everything our country stands for: liberty, equality and fraternity." France assistant coach Guy Stephan called the remarks "indignant, abject, scandalous." The French Football Federation issued a statement on July 6 describing Amarilla's comments as "totalement abjects et inacceptables" — "totally abject and unacceptable" — treating the matter as established fact rather than open dispute, per its official statement.

The investigation now occupies its own track separate from the public confrontation. When French prosecutors refer a case to the dedicated online-hate unit, they signal that authorities see potential criminal conduct under French law, which criminalizes public incitement to racial hatred regardless of where the poster lives or which platform they use. Whether French law can practically apply to a sitting foreign senator posting from abroad is a different question than whether her conduct meets the legal standard — opening an investigation does not guarantee prosecution will follow, especially across borders and against an elected official who may invoke some form of immunity.

Amarilla's counter-accusation of "gender-based violence" adds a layer of complexity to the diplomatic picture. It reframes what began as racialized mockery of a Black French athlete into a dispute where the senator positions herself as both an apologetic offender and an aggrieved party. This framing has drawn criticism from observers who note the imbalance between mocking someone's ethnicity, family background and nationality, and receiving a sharply worded public response from that person.

The episode fits into a broader pattern at this World Cup in which political figures have injected themselves into match commentary in ways that move beyond sports rivalry into ethnic or racial provocation. Chilavert's "African squad" comment served as an immediate predecessor to Amarilla's posts. Whether Paraguay's football federation or government issues a separate official response — distinct from Amarilla's personal statement — remains unclear. None of the available reporting indicates an official Paraguayan state position independent of the senator's own account.

The sequence stands clear even as the outcome does not: an insult, a public rebuke from one of world football's most prominent active French players, a partial retraction paired with a counter-accusation, and a criminal referral in Paris that will determine whether this becomes a legal case or remains a matter of diplomacy and reputation.