The 2 most difficult things to explain about the controversy over aespa’s Giselle lip-syncing the n-word
This is inherently an unnecessary mistake that should not have been made, especially by aespa’s Giselle.
aespa has been involved in a lot of controversies since debut. Most recently, the member that became the target of criticism is Giselle. In a behind-the-scenes video of aespa’s jacket shooting for “Savage” uploaded on October 23, an action of Giselle has been embroiled in a serious controversy.
Specifically, in one scene, Giselle, along with Karina and NingNing, were listening and jamming to SZA’s “Love Galore”. Only Giselle memorized and lip-synced the lyrics, but accidentally mouthed the line that contains the n-word, an offensive racial slur typically used against black people.
Racism has always been a sensitive issue. After fans noticed what happened in the video, the keyword “Giselle n word” started trending and sparked a huge controversy on social media. In this case, instead of defending Giselle, fans are well aware that she is in the wrong and demand an apology from both the female idol and SM. Currently, SM has quietly taken down the video and has not issued a response.
Fans are not only upset with Giselle’s action but also because of the carelessness of both the aespa’s member herself and the company, that has led to such a controversy.
Giselle is supposed to be the most aware of Western culture and how the n word is a derogatory racial slur
The first one to take the blame is obviously Giselle. Considering the fact that she studied at the International School of the Sacred Heart in Tokyo, Japan, Giselle is the most fluent English speaker in aespa. Therefore, many fans and netizens assume that she should be well aware of the offensive racial slur that non-black people shouldn’t use under any circumstances.
Moreover, when Giselle covered Doja Cat’s “Tia Tamera” with lyrics containing the n word, she corrected the lyrics to not say this word. This proves that Giselle could have completely avoided her mistake this time.
Giselle, on the other hand, sang without skipping this bad word in the behind the scenes video. Perhaps she was being too naive to believe that these behind-the-scenes moments would not be broadcast or publicized. Just because of a little negligence, this action raised questions about the true personality of the Japanese female idol and brought about unnecessary trouble.
Did SM’s post-production team not spot this mistake when editing the video?
As the leading K-pop entertainment company, the SM team understands the public’s strictness on personality issues. Every act of the artist in public must be performed with extreme caution. Giselle, on the other hand, got herself into a lot of trouble due to the poor work of the post-production team.
SM has made many mistakes in post-production, such as typos, etc but fans consider them as small mistakes. However, the controversy regarding Giselle is a wake-up call for SM’s sloppy way of working in recent years.
Behind-the-scenes footage always makes fans excited because they can see the working process and real personality of the idols. However, following the release of the MV Savage behind-the-scenes video, Giselle is in danger of losing a large number of international fans as a result of this controversy. At the moment, aespa is gradually reclaiming its place in the hearts of fans, so this issue will undoubtedly have a significant negative impact on the group. SM has not yet commented on this incident or provided a solution. Hopefully the company will take reasonable steps to protect aespa.
