K-pop girl group Kiss Of Life (키스 오브 라이프) announced earlier this year that they would be coming to Malaysia as part of their “Kiss Road” Tour. Fans have been eagerly awaiting their arrival; however, the group has recently been faced with serious allegations that could affect the attendance of their upcoming show.
On 3rd April 2025, the members celebrated Julie (쥴리)’s birthday by hosting a livestream for fans. What they probably didn’t expect was that the theme they had chosen for the party would be met with accusations of racism and cultural appropriation.
According to Kiss of Life, they intended to host a hip-hop-themed party for Julie’s birthday livestream. As part of the theme, the girls were dressed in clothing and accessories commonly associated with the stereotypical image of a hip-hop artist. Unfortunately, the idea was not well received by fans, who accused the members of being racist and appropriating Black culture.
The livestream was swiftly removed following heavy backlash. Shortly thereafter, Kiss of Life’s agency, S2 Entertainment, issued an apology for the incident, promising to be more mindful in the future. Over the weekend, the idols themselves also posted a handwritten apology regarding the birthday theme, with each member contributing to the letter.
“Our intention was to show how much we loved the category of old school hip hop because it greatly influences our music. While shooting the content, we ended up taking the concept too far. We realise now that our content was culturally insensitive and take full responsibility for our actions and can only promise to do better,” the letter reads. Although they expressed regret, sadly, fans were not as forgiving.
As seen in the screenshots below, many criticised Kiss of Life for not specifying that their birthday theme had offended Black people. Others pointed out that two of the members, including Julie, are American, which made them appear more ignorant, given that they had previously apologised for using a racial slur in the past. Some pointed out that the girls had asked their fans not to leave the fandom before the livestream began, which further insinuated that they were aware their actions might be insensitive.
Will this latest incident affect their Asia tour? Guess we’ll have to wait and see.
Controversial moments during the livestream:
