aespa Giselle's cultural appropriation controversy explained amid recent Desi culture drama

Global K-pop sensation Giselle from aespa has come under fire after the group’s appearance in a showcase in Los Angeles, California, and has been accused of cultural appropriation.

As the girls finished performing their hitmaker tracks, they entertained the audience with some popular TikTok dance challenge, the Jiggle Jiggle song, which has become a viral trend over the past few weeks and has had millions of people join in.

In one segment, aespa's Giselle ended up deviating from the original choreography and went for a move that resembled a dance step from an Indian traditional dance.

After snippets of the dance challenge were circulated, many netizens pointed out her mistake and expressed their disappointment at Giselle mocking Indian culture.

This is not the first time that K-pop idols have come into the limelight for cultural appropriation as girl group OH MY GIRL, too, was allegedly accused of a similar incident in April 2022.

---

aespa's Giselle embroiled in racism accusations after allegedly mocking Desi culture

On June 26, 2022, the four-member girl group consisting of Winter, Karina, Giselle, and Ningning got together for an exciting showcase in Los Angeles, United States.

The girls held their first show, SYNK, at the YouTube Theater in the city and performed their hit tracks, including Black Mamba, Next Level, and Savage. They also performed aenergy, Lucid Dream, and their pre-released songs Illusion and Life’s Too Short from their upcoming second mini-album Girls.

While the showcase was full of fun and stunning performances, there was unfortunately one moment that left netizens enraged and disappointed.

In between one of their performances, the K-pop girl group took a break and entertained fans with a recent TikTok dance challenge that has been trending on various social media platforms. They tried the Jiggle Jiggle challenge that many of their fellow K-pop idols have taken part in as well.

During the challenge, one particular dance step from Giselle caught the eye of many netizens. As the members took part in the challenge on stage, she added her own spin to the choreography. When they get to the word “relax," participants usually bend one leg up and put their arms behind their head to represent the wording.

However, Giselle transitioned into a different dance move while standing in the same position of bending her knees but changed the choreography by connecting her index fingers and thumb while moving her head from side-to-side.

---

Fans call out Giselle for appropriating Indian culture

After completing the challenge, aespa's Giselle began laughing, quite possibly out of shyness. Netizens began criticizing the idol and accused her of being racist, as they deemed her dance step mocking Indian culture and its traditional dance, Bharatanatyam.

To some, the K-pop idol's dance step was a simple improvisation to the already existing choreography of the Jiggle Jiggle dance challenge. They began to defend her and stated that she was only having fun at the time.

---

Meanwhile, popular American talk show Good Morning America announced that aespa has joined the star-studded lineup for their 2022 Summer Concert Series as the opening act, and are slated to perform on July 8.

The girl group has also become the second K-pop act after BTS, who performed in 2019 and 2021, to participate in the event.