Kylian Mbappe seeks action against nonconsensual use of name

 

World-renowned French footballer Kylian Mbappe has initiated legal action against a shop selling kebabs in Marseille using the striker’s name on one of their sandwiches demanding the removal of the name of the athlete from their menu.

The 25-year-old Paris-Saint Germain forward — who led the French team in the football world cup in 2022 — served a legal notice to Mohamed Henni who owns the kebab shop.

The Marseille-based influencer mentioned the description of his Klüb kebab as a "baker round bread, as round as Mbappe skull."

The influencer who has a following of over 1.8 million on the social media platform Instagram received a letter Wednesday, according to a news report by ESPN from Kylian Mbappe’s lawyer Delphine Verheyden on behalf of a company named KMA — that coordinates with sponsors, and other commercial rights.

According to the report, the letter demanded the influencer to remove the name of the French forward from the shop’s menu within the period of eight days, or otherwise, the matter would be landed in court for using the footballer’s name for commercial purposes without his assent.

While responding to the legal action, Mohamed Henni expressed his shock on his Instagram account.

He said in French: "Are you not ashamed? You have nothing else to do? Suing me for something so futile? It is incredible. I can't believe it!"

He added: ‘I didn’t think a player at this level had the time to think about me. He took time and money to attack me. I’m not hurting anyone, I do humour.’

The report noted that Dimitri Payet, the former Olympique Marseille and West Ham star who is playing at Vasco da Gama, is also part of one such description in the menu: "A crepe as loaded as Payet."