Just recently, Mamamoo was in for some trouble after they did a blackface during their recent concert in Seoul. What happened during the concert was that Mamamoo did a parody performance for Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars' "Uptown Funk".
In their performance, Mamamoo wore the same outfit as the original singer as well as painted their faces black to refer to the real skin color of the singer of the song. Because of it, the performance was heavily criticized as pure racist.
Because of it, Mamamoo immediately turned to Facebook the next day apologizing for their insensitive actions and decisions. However, other K-pop stars such as CL, Taeyang and Keith Ape, also experienced a heavy dose of criticism for their racist actions or statements.
According to Teen Vogue, Hwasa of Mamamoo, reportedly said the N word during her cover song of Beyonce's "Irreplaceable". Then there's G-Dragon who posted an offensive photo which most people believe to be a reference to Trayvon Martin, a black teen who was shot down.
In defense of himself, G-Dragon says that it is just a big misunderstanding. But even though the K-pop heartthrob says that it's not meant that way, it is still pretty clear that his actions and statements can somehow be directed and connected to the recent happenings which involved African Americans.
With all of these racist instances, it makes perfect sense for people to call out the attention of these K-pop groups and celebrities as they are the face of the Korean pop culture. In knowing the historical atrocities that ancestors of today's African Americans had way back then, it is very important to be sensitive enough to not bring back history's horrors. After all, we're all human beings.
It is also important for these K-pop icons to become more sensitive as they are the main adopters of the Western pop culture in Asia. K-pop needs to be more careful next time.
