I think idols really shouldn't be cancelled for small slip ups, that can be considered racist.
This includes braids, statements that are ignorant or acting disrespectful towards some other cultures or races.
In most cases these mistakes aren't made out of malice.
They are made out of ignorance.
And even if those mistakes are repeated and people go "they should know better by now" that might not be the case at all.
To most of us problems like racism, sexism and homophobia etc have been made quite clear. We have heard the stories and a lot of us have experienced those themselves. These topics are relevant to us. They aren't to most idols.
These topics aren't at the top of idols minds. They aren't relevant to them more than them getting backlash for saying those things. Why would a Korean idol know much about the struggles of black people? Korea is knows to be quite a conservative country, so it would make sense for them to not be as familiar with these topics or think about them much.
If you've never thought much about racism etc, it won't occur to you that what you might be currently saying or doing could be racist, because you well... don't think about it. it wouldn't even occur to you, because it has never been relevant to your life. Why would an idol getting braids for a comeback think about how it affects black people? This topic has never been important to them.
In some cases I can even excuse things like homophobia. This I will give a LOT less leeway to, but in the case of SuJu's Siwon for example, who has on record stated he refuses to acknowledge the validity of gay people... I am not mad at him for that. Why? because he only talked about his opinions on this topic when ASKED about it. He isn't going around spreading hate. He is religious and he has a right to an opinion. I've never seen any other evidence of his homophobia. And if the only way his homophobia is shown is him saying it when asked about it.... he can continue to believe it if he wants to.
This includes braids, statements that are ignorant or acting disrespectful towards some other cultures or races.
In most cases these mistakes aren't made out of malice.
They are made out of ignorance.
And even if those mistakes are repeated and people go "they should know better by now" that might not be the case at all.
To most of us problems like racism, sexism and homophobia etc have been made quite clear. We have heard the stories and a lot of us have experienced those themselves. These topics are relevant to us. They aren't to most idols.
These topics aren't at the top of idols minds. They aren't relevant to them more than them getting backlash for saying those things. Why would a Korean idol know much about the struggles of black people? Korea is knows to be quite a conservative country, so it would make sense for them to not be as familiar with these topics or think about them much.
If you've never thought much about racism etc, it won't occur to you that what you might be currently saying or doing could be racist, because you well... don't think about it. it wouldn't even occur to you, because it has never been relevant to your life. Why would an idol getting braids for a comeback think about how it affects black people? This topic has never been important to them.
In some cases I can even excuse things like homophobia. This I will give a LOT less leeway to, but in the case of SuJu's Siwon for example, who has on record stated he refuses to acknowledge the validity of gay people... I am not mad at him for that. Why? because he only talked about his opinions on this topic when ASKED about it. He isn't going around spreading hate. He is religious and he has a right to an opinion. I've never seen any other evidence of his homophobia. And if the only way his homophobia is shown is him saying it when asked about it.... he can continue to believe it if he wants to.