I have remained silent about this (mostly because I'm not super active here), but I have a few things I want to get off my chest. Please forgive me if this comes off harsh, I'm trying to be as firm as possible without seeming like a direct attack.
For starters, I will rip off the band-aid and say: for the time being, I will no longer be posting anything concerning Kiss of Life.
Before I am a kpop/gg stan, I am a black woman. What they did was extremely ignorant and indefensible. They dressed up like people who look like me, mocked how people who look like me speak, and more all in the name of a "birthday concept". I have been a huge fan of Natty since her debut with 'Nineteen', and continued to admire her for how resilient she was after her early career struggles. I supported Kiss of Life to support her and ended up falling in love with all the members as well. It genuinely broke my heart to see what they did, and for them to not only remain as silent for that long, but to also attempt to continue posting like nothing happened after a very dismissive company apology felt like my feelings of hurt and pain didn't matter so long as the girls could move on without having to address upset fans themselves.
What hurts the most is they chose and planned this concept personally, pre-recorded the live, and didn't stop to consider how those they were portraying may feel at any point. Instead, they went on bubble and said it was "super fun" and fans should be excited for the live to be released.
I acknowledge their apology and can understand they are apologetic now, but I still cannot find it in my heart to forgive them at the moment. Their apology centered around being sorry for "taking a concept too far", when it's been mentioned repeatedly by affected fans that the main issue is that black culture is not a "birthday concept"; it's our lives. We can't put on and take off our culture when a birthday party live ends, it's part of who we are as people.
It feels like black kpop fans in general are constantly being pushed and gaslit into accepting these half-assed apologies so others can continue supporting their favorite artist without guilt. I myself have forgiven idols who have said and done hurtful things towards the black community, but it gets to a point... I don't mean to hold Kiss of Life to an impossible standard, but I feel like not being racist isn't too much of an ask? Especially when black Kissys already forgave Julie for saying the n word pre-debut after she personally apologized? Not to mention that their entire sound, brand, look, and even name comes from black artists and black music. How should we feel when we're the blueprint, but also something they feel comfortable laughing at and mocking?
Also, I didn't mention it before but the same goes for Blackpink; for the time being, I will no longer be posting anything related to them - both group and solos. I get a lot of people feel strongly about this and understand the argument that what they did was wrong and they should apologize and i get the argument that there's no need for apologies because of the huge time gap between when this happened vs when it was exposed & the behavior hasn't been repeated. However, their silence is undeniably disappointing. They work with so many black artists and to see them move on as if they didn't use a literal racial slur directed against those same people in the past is so... I don't even know anymore. I don't have a strong opinion on this (though an apology wouldn't hurt...........), but I will refrain from posting them for those that do and are rightfully upset.
Thank you for reading this far, I know this is kind of a long ramble now lol, I just wanted to get everything off my chest.
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