OH MY GIRL under backlash for making "fatphobic" comments along with stereotyping Mexicans

[gardenofeden]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1261755750906580996

They were playing a game where they had to guess the idol. she danced to sorry sorry to give away the group name (super junior) and held her arms out to portray a fat/large man (shindong)

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1261766734471667712

Thoughts on the situation?

 

[LostInTheDream]

Well, could have done this very differently!
I don't think she meant it maliciously, especially since JinE, a former Oh My Girl member, had to leave the group because she was suffering from an eating disorder.
I don't think the group would ever purposefully make a joke about weight in a malicious manner.
She should apologize for this, both to Shindong and in general.
However, there will probably be no apology, considering South Korea's views on appearance and visuals.

 

[gardenofeden]

Well, could have done this very differently!
I don't think she meant it maliciously, especially since JinE, a former Oh My Girl member, had to leave the group because she was suffering from an eating disorder.
I don't think the group would ever purposefully make a joke about weight in a malicious manner.
She should apologize for this, both to Shindong and in general.
However, there will probably be no apology, considering South Korea's views on appearance and visuals.

How about the Mexican thing?

 

[LostInTheDream]

How about the Mexican thing?

It's not letting me view the tweets on that so I don't know what happened

 

[gardenofeden]

It's not letting me view the tweets on that so I don't know what happened

Oh sorry, bacically a member made some stereotypes towards Mexican people

 

[LostInTheDream]

Well they should definitely apologize for any kind of racist/appropriating comment.
What you have to consider is that in Korea there is less education about what is viewed as wrong and right when addressing different races/cultures. This is most likely due to Korea's history, ie the Korean War and being very isolated as a country.
However, we also don't know Oh My Girl's knowledge about different cultures.
I don't know the situation exactly to determine if they were being racist or appropriating.
They were most likely appropriating, because it doesn't sound like they were maliciously doing this (racism).
They and the company just needs to be educated about how to take on different races and cultures, which is what should happen any time appropriation occurs, instead of automatically canceling them and labeling them as racist.
They need to apologize though, but I have doubts there will be one, especially since Oh My Girl has much less presence internationally, where the majority of hurt people would be.

 

[gardenofeden]

However, we also don't know Oh My Girl's knowledge about different cultures.

They've had another scandal where they stereotyped "Indian" culture. https://www.soompi.com/article/8779...-cultural-appropriation-windy-days-promotions

 

[LostInTheDream]

I think it is the same thing with it being appropriation rather than racism, but more racist leaning than the newer issue
I think Oh My Girl's company has a lot to do this what happened.
The girls might not have known what the song meant and had been told to do everything without knowing, but they could have known, we can never really know unless we ask the girls themselves.
Based on there being a past event and now a more recent one, it's obvious that there have been no measures made to teach them that what they were saying was was wrong, and what they should do in the future regarding different cultures.
I think that Korean entertainment companies should have lessons for trainees before debut to prevent things like this from happening.
When it comes to Fiestar, what they were saying was racist, as it was insulting to Indian culture.