Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
KISS OF LIFE member Julie has issued an apology after a past clip of hers re-emerged after her debut with the group. The clip includes Julie rapping the n-word while doing a cover of B.o.B.‘s “Strange Clouds” back in 2017 when she was 17.
The apology was released in English on Twitter from the group’s official account.
This is JULIE from KISS OF LIFE. 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. 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. 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. Thank you for your understanding.
Glad it was addressed, though if you’re going to do so, you might as well be specific about what exactly the apology was for and who it was for, just because that helps make it explicit what exactly was wrong to anybody else reading*. Either way, her apology does seem to have made its way to Korea anyway and is trending there as well, so the message thankfully seems to be received.
*Despite people always saying that everybody has the Internet and should know better regardless of upbringing and all sorts of other factors, there are still many in Korea who don’t really know, so reinforcing that it’s a terrible slur in apologies certainly can’t hurt.
[정보/소식] 키스오브라이프 쥴리 공식 사과문 https://t.co/saDxfeHROH pic.twitter.com/oF4vI9U5Rt
— 인스티즈(instiz) (@instiz) July 22, 2023
While I’m not in a place to tell anybody how to take the apology or whether to forgive, I do think people have to ask more questions of those in charge of these things who are supposed to be guiding these teens. Going after the trainees on social media is understandable, but they’re really just the forward-facing end product here, and especially at this stage of their careers are just going to do whatever the suits tell them. I mean just from YG Entertainment alone that’s like at least one potential member in three generations of groups doing this in a cover, which of course speaks to deeper-rooted issues. Of course, going after legacy companies and the industry is a lot harder, so I get focusing on individuals to an extent.
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Regardless, the fact that this happened a couple weeks after a fan yelled at her to apologize (at least on the stream audio) during the SIMPLY K-POP CON-TOUR performance makes this potentially amazing timing. Hell, maybe it worked.
