Korean record label forced to censor K-pop singer with braids

Sony Music Korea has been forced to censor a music video to cover up the braided hairstyle of a K-pop girl band member following claims of ‘cultural appropriation’.

The controversy started last month when Hani, a member of the group EXID, wore braids in a promotional photo for their new single Fire.

Western K-pop fans quickly took to social media to criticise Hani’s hair, saying it’s a form of racism for any non-black person to braid their hair.

Sony Music Korea has been forced to censor a music video featuring K-pop idol Hani (pictured) wearing a braided hairstyle, following backlash over ‘cultural appropriation’ 

Bowing to the social media mob, Sony Music Korea responded by blurring out any scenes of Hani’s braids in the music video. 

‘OMG, any scenes in which Hani had the braids on show have been for the MV – the company heard the backlash!’ tweeted one fan.

‘They censored Hani’s braids?’ another asked. ‘I mean, better than nothing, but common. The whole K-pop industry should know by now that giving their idols black hairstyles isn’t cool.’

Bowing to the social media mob, Sony Music Korea responded by blurring out any scenes of Hani’s braids (right) in the music video for her group EXID’s new single Fire

Despite EXID’s agency doing their best to rectify the situation, some fans were still upset that they hadn’t just edited out the scenes altogether.

‘Them blurring Hani’s braids instead of just removing it from the MV is an interesting choice,’ tweeted one.

While the exact definition of cultural appropriation seems to vary wildly these days, some people use examples of black people being racially discriminated against for wearing traditional hairstyles like braids, and use that to justify banning non-black people from styling their hair that way.

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Western K-pop fans were enraged by the braids, but seemed pleased once the label censored them in the music video

K-pop idols aren’t the only ones who have been targeted by critics for so-called cultural appropriation.

Adele was famously slammed for wearing a Jamaican-flag bikini and Bantu knots to the Notting Hill Carnival in London.

The British songstress was defended by a number of prominent celebrities, including Naomi Campbell and Zoe Saldana, but she still capitulated to the backlash in an interview with Vogue a year later.

‘I totally get why people felt like it was appropriating,’ she told the magazine.

Despite EXID’s agency doing their best to rectify the situation, some fans were still upset that they hadn’t just edited out the scenes altogether

‘I didn’t read the f**king room. I was wearing a hairstyle that is actually to protect Afro hair. Ruined mine, obviously.’

Fashion brand Balenciaga was also accused of cultural appropriation and racism after releasing a pair of $1,190 sweatpants that featured an exposed boxer short built-in above the waistband, a style made famous in hip-hop culture during the ’90s.

In a statement to CNN, Marquita Gammage, an associate professor of Africana Studies at California State University, Northridge, said she was disturbed by the item and what she saw as black culture being used to ‘secure major profits’.

Adele was famously accused of cultural appropriation for wearing a Jamaican-flag bikini and Bantu knots to the Notting Hill Carnival in London (pictured)

The British songstress outraged Twitter users in 2020 

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Gammage, who is the author of ‘Cultural Appropriation as Agency Reduction’ said the style has often ‘been used to criminalize blacks, especially black males as thugs and a threat to American society.’

‘Balenciaga men’s Trompe-L’Oeil sweatpants in red triggers immediate concern given the grotesque similarity to the iconic African American hip-hop aesthetic worn by black Americans for decades that has resulted in the imprisonment and death of black men,’ she added in the email to CNN. 

‘The trousers have commercial cultural appropriation written all over them; branded with the name Balenciaga.’

Fashion label Balenciaga was also slammed for designing pants that exposed the boxers underneath, which critics said stole from ’90s hip-hop fashion