K-pop girl group Kiss of Life have issued a public apology in response to a birthday live broadcast that many fans deemed culturally insensitive.
On April 2, the four members of Kiss of Life — Julie, Natty, Belle, and Haneul — held a live stream on YouTube celebrating Julie's 25th birthday. During the stream, the members revealed the theme for the event was “old-school hip-hop vibes," and showed a picture of three Black men as the “inspo” reference.
The members appeared on screen donning stereotypical hip-hop attire, including diamond and gold chains, hoop earrings, snapbacks, and even cornrows. Member Belle, who donned makeup seemingly inspired by Latina women, presented herself as Lil Taco Belle. Natty was introduced as NT, and Haneul was introduced as Bob Sky.
During the live, the members used a blaccent and AAVE repeatedly; the video has since been removed from the group's social channels, but there are re-uploaded clips from the stream online. After the live, the members uploaded a TikTok lipsyncing to 50 Cent's “In da Club” wearing the same outfits. This video has also since been deleted.
Shortly after the live, many fans took to social media to voice their concerns over the live, dubbing it as “mockery” and “disrespect.”
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As the conversation amplified online, the group addressed the controversy on April 7 with a handwritten apology posted to their social channels.
“We really want to sincerely apologize for the content that was uploaded that caused so much disappointment to our fans. We have to seem calm on the outside, but the time leading up to this letter has honestly been hard. Although we wanted to and should've addressed this sooner. We are taking the first opportunity to address it now,” the statement reads.
“We are sorry. Our intention was to show how much we loved the category of old school hip hop because it greatly influences our music. While shooting the content, we ended up taking the concept too far," it continued. "We realize now that our content was culturally insensitive and take full responsibility for our actions and can only promise to do better.”
The group said they have been spending time “learning and reflecting” while acknowledging they had “disappointed many [fans].”
“We know that there is nothing we can say or do that will magically fix the mistake we made. The only thing that we can promise is that we'll continue to educate ourselves and show our sincerity through our actions rather than words,” the apology reads. “We truly regret the choices we made and are genuinely sorry for any pain and distress we have caused our fans. This situation has been a valuable learning experience for us.”
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Many fans found the group's apology lackluster and took to social media to express their concerns. “Again, who’s the certain race you offended, and why you’re scared to say that certain race group in this repeated weak apology letter?” a fan pointed out.
The timing of Kiss of Life's live stream arrived at a time during increased conversations around cultural insensitivity among K-pop idols. Days before, an anonymous poster leaked several unreleased videos that appeared to show three of the BLACKPINK members singing along to the n-word during their trainee days, which prompted fans to make compilations of other idols saying or singing the n-word. BLACKPINK nor YG Entertainment have addressed the leak; Teen Vogue has reached out for comment.
Many of those compilations included past clips of Kiss of Life's Julie also singing along to the n-word, which she had also previously apologized for. “An old video has resurfaced in which I, without paying enough attention, sang the original lyrics of a cover song that included a certain word, for which I deeply regret,” Julie wrote in 2023.
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“This incident made me realize how my careless actions can cause harm to many people and during my 6 years of training period I educated myself and matured,” Julie, who was born in Hawaii and lived there until the age of 13, added. "I'm determined to be more cautious and meticulous to prevent making the same mistakes in the future. I want to express my sincere apologies to everyone who may have been hurt by my actions. I will strive to show you a better version of myself and continuous growth in the future."
Teen Vogue has reached out to representatives of Kiss of Life for further comment.
