Girl group Kiss of Life is embroiled in a controversy over racial discrimination against black people. We'll take a quick look at the problems that arose at the hip-hop concept birthday party, as well as the official apology from the agency.

1. Controversy that started during a birthday live broadcast

On April 2nd, girl group KISS OF LIFE held a live broadcast with fans to celebrate member Julie's birthday.

The problem was that all the members appeared on the show dressed in an old-school hip-hop style.

But this style went beyond simple fashion, and controversy erupted among overseas fans when some members were caught imitating black people's unique speech and gestures.

The response , “Isn’t this racist?” spread quickly.

2. Why was it a problem?

The point is that the behavior shown by the members on the broadcast went beyond a simple concept and appeared to follow stereotypes about black culture.

In particular, since the concept of “old-school hip hop” itself originated from black culture, there was criticism that it was borrowed without any historical context or respect.

Fans were even more disappointed when they saw that no one took issue with the fact that some of the members were from the United States.

3. Official apology from the agency

The next day, on April 3rd, the agency S2 Entertainment released an official statement.
To summarize,

- This content expresses old school hip-hop style.

- I didn't realize that although it was meant to be a respectful expression of culture, it could end up reinforcing stereotypes about a certain race.

- We sincerely apologize to those who felt inconvenienced.

- They said they would delete all of the content and handle cultural elements more carefully in the future.

4. What was the fans’ reaction? “The members should apologize”

However, the fans' reaction did not end with an apology. Especially in overseas Twitter fandoms, there were many opinions such as "Why aren't the members themselves apologizing?" and "Didn't they know about this and do it?"

Some fans even mentioned the past n-word controversy of a member, saying, “At this point, isn’t this a pattern rather than a mistake?”

5. Cultural borrowing? Appropriation? The era where the boundary is important

This issue goes beyond a simple costume controversy, and raises the question of how far 'cultural borrowing' can be tolerated, especially as K-POP has become increasingly influential globally.

If you bring in a style without knowing the culture well, fans will inevitably react by saying, “Aren’t you just consuming our culture and not respecting it?”

Seeing this controversy continue, I think it's time for K-POP to have clearer standards for global sensibility and cultural respect.

Do you think this apology was sufficient?

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