NewJeans became a hot topic in an online thread for their "unwhitewashed" visuals during their appearance at the Billboard Women In Music 2024.
NewJeans Draws Attention for 'Unwhitewashed' Visuals at Billboard Women In Music 2024
Earlier on March 6, the Billboard Women In Music 2024, was officially held at the Youtube Theater, in Inglewood, California. Various female artists from around the globe attended the highly anticipated ceremony, including the leading fourth-gen K-pop girl group NewJeans.
The event, which aimed to award the biggest female artists, was also attended by various fandoms of artists such as Charli XCX, Karol G, Young Miko, and many more. The show was hosted by Tracee Ellis Ross.
On the event's carpet, NewJeans stormed the venue with their school girl fashion and captivating vibe. However, netizens mostly noticed members' "unwhitewashed" visuals, which led to an online thread on March 7.
In the post titled, "The reason why foreign fans accuse Koreans of whitewashing," the author uploaded one of NewJeans' pictures from the carpet.
Are the NewJeans members also victims of "white washing"?https://t.co/mQppCXWrLH pic.twitter.com/K8GxGXsfSv
— pannchoa (@pannchoa) March 7, 2024
"This is NewJeans's Getty Image taken in the U.S today," OP shared. "To be honest, celebrities aren't that white."
It continued, "But TV programs in our country (of South Korea) always edit our celebrities to look pale. That's why it looks so weird in the eyes of foreigners."
The sentiments of the author come from the continuous "whitewashing" by Korean fansites, which is one of the most discussed topics among fans.
"Whitewashing" has been consistently called out for displaying inaccuracy regarding skin image, alongside its "problematic" nature that incites discrimination and creates social disparity between White and Non-White communities.
In the comments section, netizens were divided on their reactions towards OP's post. Some stated that whitewashing can't be helped sometimes due to Korean celebrities' pale skin and that NewJeans' photos weren't whitewashed since none of the members had pale tones.
Read their reactions below:
- "Is it a sin that Koreans are white? Is it a sin that our standard of beauty is to look pale? The NewJeans members are the ones who were not originally born with pale skin."
- "But haven't the NewJeans members always artificially made their skin white with makeup?"
- "The problem is that they look at people who were originally fair like Dahyun and accuse us of editing."
- "To be honest, nobody in NewJeans is especially white."
- "There are a lot of Koreans who are whiter than white people."
- "I also am whiter than white people and in the summer, rather than becoming brown, I become red. But then I go back to being white in the winter."
- "They looked like this ever since their debut so since when did they ever pretend to be white?"
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