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SEOUL (Reuters) – A reality TV episode showing K-pop band BLACKPINK holding a newborn panda has been withdrawn after allegations in China that the group mishandled a national treasure, the latest quarrel between South Korean entertainment stars and audiences in its big neighbor.
Last month, South Korean boyband BTS came under heavy criticism in China after its leader made remarks about the Korean War and some BTS-related products were removed from Chinese websites.
Fu Bao, the first panda born in South Korea, was introduced to the public last week. Fu Bao’s parents arrived in 2016 from the Chinese province of Sichuan, home of giant pandas, as part of China’s “panda diplomacy”.
BLACKPINK included footage of the band members holding the baby panda in a teaser clip that aired on YouTube earlier this month.
Some local Chinese media and online commentators denounced the group of girls for touching Fu Bao with their bare hands and while wearing too much makeup, saying it threatened the young puppy’s health. The comments sparked a storm on Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter.
As of Tuesday, there were millions of views and 55,000 posts on the hashtag “Blackpink touched the baby panda wrong” on Weibo.
The full episode was scheduled to air November 7 and was postponed, according to the group’s music label, YG Entertainment, although it defended the production.
“When BLACKPINK met the panda cub, all members wore hygienic gloves, masks and protective clothing … hands and shoes were disinfected at every transition,” the agency said in a statement.
The hashtags “BLACKPINK” and “Panda” were also trending on South Korean Twitter over the weekend. Some South Korean social media users have rejected Chinese criticism, urging South Korea to “return the pandas” or claiming that “the pandas are not ours and it is too expensive to raise them anyway.”
Sangmi Cha reporting, additional reporting from the Beijing and Soohyun Mah office in Seoul; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan
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