The appearance of BLACKPINK Jennie in episode 3 of “The Idol” are receiving a lot of mixed reactions and criticisms.
In episode 3 of “The Idol”, Jennie’s appearance aroused a new wave of mixed reactions. In particular, the female idol’s character, Dyanne, was chosen to replace female lead Jocelyn (Lily-Rose Depp) to film an MV with dancers.
Here, Jennie was dressed in an extremely revealing pink corset, but it was her hairstyle that ended up becoming the talk of the town.
In particular, the female idol can be seen wearing locs (also known as dreadlocks), a hairstyle often used by black people and is rooted in their history and culture. As a result, she became criticized for “cultural appropriation”.
On the other hand, back in last year, the first trailer for HBO’s original series “The Idol”, through which Jennie made her highly anticipated acting debut, also caused Jennie to receive backlash for a similar reason.
Specifically, in a scene from the trailer where Jennie was seen dancing, she was wearing the e cornrow hairstyle, which is also a black people culture.
At the time, various criticisms aimed at Jennie sparked among international K-pop fans in general and black fans in particular because braiding hairstyles, including cornrows, are part of the African culture and are not supposed to be worn by non-black celebrities for the sole purpose of looking “cool” and “hip”.
This is not the first time K-pop idols get called out for appropriating African culture through their hairstyles. Previously, BLACKPINK’s Lisa was caught up in criticism and had to apologize for wearing box braid extensions in the dance performance video for “MONEY”.
Many people are expressing disappointment at Jennie for wearing cornrows and demanding feedback from the female idol. While fans defend Jennie saying she meant no disrespect, others argue that Jennie is a fluent English speaker who is familiar with the Western culture, so she must be aware of the issue regarding cultural appropriation and could have avoided this mistake.
