Rooke Girl Group Under Fire for Insulting Filipino, African, and Native American Heritage
XUM only debuted two days ago, September 22, and yet the trio is already facing their first major scandal. Numerous K-pop fans from all over the world took issue with the group's previous YouTube video, as the members were seen making racially insensitive comments towards Filipino, African, and Native American heritage.
Previously, A100 Entertainment announced in August that their girl group, NeonPunch, would be disbanding after two years. According to the agency, the group would be disbanding due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic from managing NeonPunch's future activities.
However, they also announced that three of the group's former members, Dayeon, Baekah, and Iaan, would be redebuting as a girl group trio under the name XUM. Though their debut was pushed back due to COVID-19 testing, the group finally debuted on September 22, Tuesday, and released their music video for "DDALALA" that same day.
On September 23, however, the controversial video resurfaced online. The video was uploaded to the group's official YouTube channel on May 2020 and showed the XUM members, who at the time were still promoting as members of NeonPunch, taking a DNA test designed to reveal their ethnicities and heritage. The YouTube video has since been deleted.
Prior to taking the test, the members started chatting about their predictions. This is where the problematic comments began. First, Baekah chimed in and said that she thought Iaan might have Filipino heritage in her bloodline because she heard that Iaan had a Filipino member in her family. However, Iaan quickly corrected her and said "Vietnam" before laughing.
From the viewers perspective, many believed Iaan's response insinuated that there was something wrong with being part Filipino, and that she has a prejudiced against the Philippines.
Dayeon then suggested she thinks Iaan might have DNA from Ghana, a country in West Africa. Immediately upon hearing this, Iaan gets visibly flustered, laughing and making a "no" sign with her hands. The subtitles of the video is also said to promote colorism, as they call Iaan "the girl between two exceptionally white members".
People who watched the video have said that they barely see the difference between her and the other members' skin tone.
In another scene, Baekah said she thinks she has African heritage, and Dayeon agrees. However, fans are upset with the reason Dayeon gave, as they believe it promotes African stereotypes. The reason Dayeon believes Baekah has African heritage is because "Baekah has a really loud voice". In the video, she proceeds to do a loud cry, which many found insulting to African viewers.
The subtitles of the video reads, "A white-skinned Baekah from Africa?"
The members begin laughing as Dayeon does her loud cry, Baekah loudly jokes, "Do you feel like an Indian chief?" Many believe that she is referring to Native American tribal chieftains.
As the video started making its rounds, fans were understandably upset. Many netizens slammed the idols for being mocking, rude, and ignorant to other cultures. They also expressed disappointment at how racially insensitive the trio is. Some have even expressed shock at how uneducated XUM is about other cultures despite how global K-pop has become.
K-pop fans from all over the world are demanding a statement from A100 Entertainment and an apology from the girls. Following the backlash, the YouTube video has been deleted from their YouTube account, showing they are aware of the backlash. However, they have yet to comment on the situation.
Check out the scene for yourself here:
