Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the World Health Organisation (WHO), has described Paraguayan Senator Celeste Amarilla’s racist remarks directed at football player Kylian Mbappé as a disgrace.

Mr Ghebreyesus, in a post on X on Wednesday, faulted Ms Amarilla, while warning that racism is unacceptable as a joke, an excuse, or a personal trait.

“What a disgrace! Racism is not a joke, a personality trait, or an excuse rooted in ‘where I come from.’ It’s a violation of basic human dignity, full stop,” Mr Ghebreyesus said.

The public health expert, who previously served as Ethiopia’s minister of health and later minister of foreign affairs, stated that racism violated basic human dignity.

He stated that public figures, particularly elected officials, have a responsibility to reject hatred rather than rationalise it.

“Public figures, especially elected officials, have a heightened responsibility to reject hatred, not rationalise it,” he said.

Mr Ghebreyesus said Mr Mbappé and everyone targeted by the parliamentarian’s demeaning language deserved an apology.

“Human dignity for all is not a slogan. It’s a commitment,” he wrote.

On July 7, the Peoples Gazette reported that Mr Mbappé hit back at the Paraguayan lawmaker, who had referred to him as “ugly” and “a colonised Cameroonian.”

The lawmaker, who has since been widely condemned, made the remark following France’s victory on Saturday, which ended Paraguay’s World Cup quarter-final run.

“A colonised 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,” Ms Amarilla wrote on X.