Super Junior D&E withdraw from music shows following misogyny controversy over “GGB” title track

Last September, Super Junior D&E members Donghae and Eunhyuk founded their own company, ODE Entertainment. They recently announced their debut under the label will come on March 26 with 606 and the title track, “Jijibae (GGB)“. And it’s that title of the track that currently has them in hot water, as netizens have called it misogynistic in an old-fashion way, with one fan explaining the controversy.

“The title of the song is a phrase used to when calling a woman, but it is a derogatory one. It is not completely a curse word, and there are instances where it it used amongst girls themselves or mother-daughters in a joking way, but it is similar as to when some words can be used jokingly amongst the same race, but is considered racist for others to use. [Jijibae (GGB)] is a word that modern women are averse to, and it is especially unpleasant when it is used by a man. 10 to 15 years ago, it was more commonly used with the meaning of ‘bad woman,’ and I think that maybe D&E also used it with such intention, but that is an outdated and old way of thinking for sure.”

A good example of context mattering is you’ve likely heard of this word from CL‘s “The Baddest Female“, where’s it repeated over and over. Thus, as many others have said, the best comp in the English language is maybe something like a less offensive version of “bitch”.

Why two male idols in their late-30s thought it would be a great idea to use that as the title track of their company debut is beyond me, but they did, and they also recently said they would withdraw from music shows because of it.

“We have acknowledged the issues and opinions on the album’s title track ‘Jijibae(GGB)’ and had discussions internally with the artists.
The song ‘Jijibae(GGB)’ expresses the longing for a past lover with cute lyrics like ‘Too pretty GGB’, ‘The rainbow we used to see together’, portraying a more friendly relationship. There was absolutely no intention to use this word in a negative sense, as your concerns have been expressed.
However, we regret that we did not more carefully consider in advance about the various opinions regarding the meanings and possible discomfort surrounding this word.
We have discussed various options, but since almost the entire album production has already been completed, there are limitations to making changes.
Therefore, after considering opinions from the artists and the company internally, we have decided to cancel all planned music show activities after the release.
However, we still plan to release many content that we have worked hard to prepare as we want to show many things to our fans.”

I dunno what the thought process was here, honestly. Old and out of touch, I guess?

Seems a lot like stepping on a bunch of rakes that you yourself placed.