While MYs always have wholesome relationships with aespa members, NingNing drew the line when a lot of fans started to call her THESE names.
Among fourth-gen girl groups, aespa is one of the acts that is known for actively communicating with fans through various social media platforms such as Bubble and Instagram.
As a result, they formed a close relationship with their fandom, MYs and they became comfortable throwing jokes and banters.
However, there are still boundaries that shouldn't be crossed, and NingNing reminded fans about this line when she felt displeased by netizens intentionally spelling her name wrongly.
Recently, NingNing posted a crying cat meme, explaining that she forgot to take a photo from the music show.
As soon as she uploaded it, she drew fans' laughter, leading them to leave light-hearted comments such as:
- "So cute."
- "NingNing joined the cat meme-ing."
- "What's the story here, spill the tea."
While it was supposed to be fun and all while communicating with each other, some MYs decided to tease NingNing even more as they left comments like:
- "Hi, KingKing."
- "LingLing?"
- "Okay, NingNong."
Seeing this, NingNing immediately called them out tagging them one by one but as the teasing intensified, the female star firmly commented:
"I'm not xingxingdingdinglinglingringring."
it's clear that it bothers ningning enough to respond, but y'all continue with this unfunny "joke" pic.twitter.com/q77UhyAtwD
— roxie (@holyizhuo) May 17, 2024
In particular, it has been a long time since NingNing has been drawing the line about misspelling and making fun of her name, and even Karina last year mentioned that their maknae is sensitive about people making other variations of it.
She is clear about wanting to be properly called NingNing and feels frustrated with those who are getting it wrong.
While some MYs insisted that it was just an "inside joke," a lot of NingNing supporters emphasized that it is not a "joke" at this point, but blatant sinophobia and a form of racism.
As a Chinese K-pop idol, calling her "LingLing" and other variations is undoubtedly a form of disrespect especially if done intentionally.
kpop stans and their inability to treat chinese idols normally this is just blatant sinophobia https://t.co/Zm4GpRf5ZW
— ✩ (@DICKDOH) May 17, 2024
yall are fucking crazy for doing this to her when yall know damn that she's chinese and the whole "lingling" thing is very much used as a form to be racists towards chinese people. it's not just about "it bothers her" you're being racist you fucking donkey. https://t.co/Ra7VSRJNFj
— lani | 🍉 (@dazaistry) May 17, 2024
OMG making fun of Asian names is the oldest racist drag of Asians along with making slant eyes.
— Matthew L (@MattLae1) May 17, 2024
Those racist a**holes don’t get how much it scars Asian American kids when they do that to them, makes them hate being Asian. https://t.co/Ulw2AA7Kki
Meanwhile, aespa, the group to which NingNing belongs is actively promoting various music broadcasts with the release of its new song.
On the 13th, the quartet unveiled one of its double title tracks, "Supernova," which is included in its first studio album, "Armageddon."
Upon its release, it became a big hit in both local and international charts, even earning about 11M streams on Spotify, just five days since it was dropped.
The comeback track particularly impressed Koreans as the song is consistently ranked 1st on Bugs for 5 consecutive days, 1st on Melon Hot 100, 2nd on the Top 100 (based on peak ranking), and 6th on Daily Chart.
On May 18th, the group will appear on MBC's "Show! Music Core," and on SBS's "Inkigayo" on the 19th.
READ MORE: Pop Reporter Explains Why aespa NingNing Is 'Hidden Gem,' Describes Idol's Vocals
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Written by Eunice Dela Cruz
