Wendy, a member of SM Entertainment's new girl group Red Velvet, has caught the attention of international netizens not because of her talent and charm as an idol, but because of her impression of white and black people in a Korean radio show, Allkpop reports.
On the November 1 broadcast of C-Radio's "Idol True Colors," Wendy was asked by the hosts to show off her individual talents. The female idol said she has many, but then she went on saying she had learned to imitate white people and black people, particularly, black men.
The Red Velvet member started by making impressions of white women, imitating their high-pitched voices while saying "Oh my gosh" sassily. The radio program's hosts, Super Junior-M's Zhou Mi, and miss A's Jia and Fei, commended Wendy for her impression. Zhou Mi even said, "It's like that in the movies," while Jia made her own version of the expression.
Wendy continued by imitating black women, highlighting that their eyes and facial expressions are important. She said, "You're right, you're right" in a different accent while snapping her fingers. The set once again applauded her.
Then she went on showing her impressions of black men, saying, "For black men, because they're like gangsters, they're like...," followed by her impression.
The video of the broadcast has since received negative comments. It was even reported on Bossip, American gossip website. One of the comments read, "The ignorance in K-Pop [world] is ASTOUNDING [...]."
"I am beyond tired of [these] idols making these kind of impersonations. It's okay if that's how ONE person acts [like] that [to] them but to say this is ALL black girls[,] this is ALL black guys, it's so ignorant. [...]," said one netizen.
Another went on, saying, "Wow, this is absolutely disgusting of Wendy to do. It's not funny, it's racist and ignorant [...],"
Other, meanwhile defended the K-pop star, saying, "I'm brown-skinned and I don't find this racist at all.... People are overreacting." Another wrote, "She was not being racist she was stereotyping. Those are two different thing[s] but she still did wrong and should apologize."
Wendy Son is of Korean-Canadian descent and grew up in Canada.
Red Velvet's record label, SM Entertainment, has not released a statement about the issue.
Check out Wendy in action, which starts at the 14:30 mark.
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