HYBE trainee Leo sparks controversy with alleged misogynistic lyrics

Leo, the 19-year-old Australian trainee, recently came under fire for writing misogynistic song lyrics. Leo, well known for his appearance on BTS’ ‘Permission To Dance’ MV in early 2021, was speculated to be one of the HYBE Label trainees who belonged to the group called Trainee A. However, a video titled 'Shutdown', which was posted by him to Trainee A's official YouTube channel has sparked controversy.

The said video is revealed to be written by the trainee for a rap battle between HYBE subsidiary trainees, including Source Music, Pledis Entertainment, & more. Some of the lyrics that he wrote go:

"Fu** that ho* in my bank, yeah that ho* stopped breathing. Ain't nobody gon tell me why that bi*** stopped breathing."

The production team has since deleted the video on their official YouTube channel, issuing an apology:

"We would like to express our deepest apologies regarding the inappropriate lyrics in “Leo’s SHOWDOWN” video uploaded on the Trainee A YouTube channel in October."

They also added:

"We sincerely apologize for failing to recognize the seriousness of the issue and releasing a video with inappropriate content. After having recognized the issue, we have decided to delete the video."

The team also shared a personal apology letter from Leo, addressing his intentions behind his writing:

"As it was a competition, I felt as though I needed to use more provocative words and expressions in order to make an impact. This ultimately led me to make an extremely poor decision in which I feel great embarrassment over. I had absolutely no intention to offend or degrade anyone but my words and thoughts were very immature and I deeply apologize."

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What is Trainee A?

Earlier in 2021, K-Pop fans were excited when they figured that a group of trainees was possibly working with Big Hit Music. These speculated trainees gained attention from fans, and online communities discussed and dissected every tiny detail about them. At the time, it was also revealed that one of the trainees owned a YouTube vlog channel.

This is how the YouTube channel called Trainee A gained traction from fans, and they began to engage with fans through their content even before they made their debut. It was reported that the group was scheduled to make its debut in 2022.