French rap artist Orelsan says 'misunderstanding' caused feud with Mbappé

French rap artist Orelsan said Wednesday a "misunderstanding" likely caused his feud with football star Kylian Mbappé.

Orelsan, one of the most popular and bestselling current French rap artists, drew the ire of the Real Madrid forward with a line from a song on his latest record, "La fuite en avant." The track — "La petite voix" — features Orelsan rapping in the manner of an inner voice that criticizes and insults the artist, his family and his fans.

At one point, the voice also targets the Mbappé family — "You'll sink your city like the Mbappés" — in a reference to the 2024 takeover of Caen's football club by the striker's company Interconnected Ventures.

Orelsan grew up in the Normandy city and is a longtime fan of the team, which was relegated to the third tier of French football last season.

Mbappé took the lyric personally, accusing Orelsan of being two-faced.

"You're welcome to come 'save' the city you love so much," the France captain wrote in a message on social media, adding in a postscript: "The guy kept begging us to join with 1% without paying a cent — because he's broke — just to look like the nice guy from Normandy."

Orlesan has since avoided escalating the spat, suggesting Wednesday a misunderstanding sparked the feud during an interview with Fun Radio.

"I don't really feel like responding," Orelsan said. "I'm still in the heat of the moment, and I don't really want to talk about it. It's a misunderstanding. I think I just need to properly explain the concept of the album."

Elaborating on the song's theme, Orelsan said: "These negative things form a kind of inner voice — an inner critic — that starts to eat away at me and only see the bad. It's a big theme of the album."