K-pop group cuddles baby panda, offending Chinese
The dust from the last Kpop 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 f lurry 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.
“They didn’t explain why they touched the baby panda with heavy makeup!” one user wrote.
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 its YouTube channel and said in a statement that the band would delay the release of the next episode of its online show. The group noted that all members had worn gloves, masks and protective clothing when handling the panda cub.
The occasional eruptions of outrage against perceived flubs by K-pop stars tend to involve not only K-pop fandom — an army of fiercely loyal followers who have sometimes turned to political activism — but also internet users in China, who are fiercely protective of the nation’s image and history.
Last month, Blackpink — Jisoo, Jennie, Rosé and Lisa (real names Ji- Soo Kim, Jennie Kim, Roseanne Park and Lalisa Manoban) — swiftly reedited a music video after one member was shown wearing a nurse’s costume and high heels, drawing criticism that the band was sexualizing the profession, according to local news reports. And in July, the group faced a backlash from Indian fans after including an image of the Hindu god Ganesha in a music video. That scene, too, was quickly excised.
Boy band BTS was excoriated by Chinese social media users last month for not recognizing the sacrifices of Chinese soldiers who fought on the side of North Korea during the Korean War, while honoring the shared suffering of Americans and Koreans. Some K-pop fans were befuddled about why a South Korean band would acknowledge members of an army that fought on the opposing side.