Cuddle turns into international gaffe
Chinese internet unleashes criticism after musicians’ photo op with baby panda
The dust from the last K- pop controversy had barely settled when the wildly popular girl group Blackpink was dragged into the spotlight for the wrong reason — again.
The cause of the furor? A baby panda named Fu Bao.
Fu Bao’s name means “lucky treasure,” but the 3- month- old giant panda cub — the first to be born in South Korea — had the opposite effect when the members of the group were filmed cuddling him in a video clip teaser on Nov. 5 for an upcoming episode of their online reality show, “24/ 365 With Blackpink.”
The seemingly innocuous cuddling of a baby panda at a zoo near Seoul has drawn a sustained flurry of criticism from Chinese internet users who accused the band of putting a “national treasure” at risk. Only trained professionals, who generally wear gloves, masks and other protective gear, are allowed to handle the animals, which are classified as a vulnerable group, according to wildlife organizations.
One Chinese newspaper accused the band of putting the cub in harm’s way because of “a risk of transmitting zoonotic infections, as some of the members own pet dogs and cats.”
Commentators on Weibo, China’s version of Twitter, were even aghast that members of the band were wearing makeup while touching Fu Bao and did not wear gloves when touching the snout of an adult panda, which some news outlets said was the cub’s mother.
The hashtag “Korean artists wrongly handled panda cubs” has been viewed millions of times and received tens of thousands of comments.
Blackpink quickly removed the video from YouTube and said it would delay the release of the next episode of its show.
The group noted that all members had worn gloves, masks and protective clothing when handling the panda cub.
Commentators were quick to point out that the baby panda was the offspring of two giant pandas lent to South Korea by China in 2016 as part of a global “panda diplomacy,” which the country uses to strengthen diplomatic ties. China retains ownership of the pandas, even those born overseas.
“I like Blackpink, but pandas are our national treasure,” one Weibo user wrote. “In South Korea they were tortured like this, not properly raised. Please send them back.”