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IVE's Ahn Yunjin appeared as a guest on Lee Youngji's My Alcohol Diary on April 14, 2023. She appeared on the YouTube variety show to promote IVE's latest comeback I've IVE. During the episode, the two idols discussed various topics, some of which caught netizens' attention for all the wrong reasons. Fans took to social media to call out both Ahn and Lee.
Among other things that they discussed, the two idols spoke about greedy girls on Tiktok and were imitating them. While this was an innocent conversation, fans saw some issues arise with the editing of this segment.
As they imitated the "greedy girls" on TikTok, an image of a black woman, Jennifer Lewis, popped up on the screen. Fans saw this as an issue as the image popping up directly alluded to the common stereotype about women in the black community.
However, that wasn't all. During the episode, Youngji was seen wearing a T-shirt with the image of the Hindu god Lord Ganesha printed on it. Fans felt that it was an inappropriate choice of print for a drinking show.
IVE's Ahn Yunjin and Lee Youngji under fire for their mockery of the Black and Indian culture
The release of the episode where IVE's Ahn Yujin and Lee Youngji supposedly imitated the people they'd seen on TikTok, left fans furious with some edits. They pointed out that idols' actions and movements were a clear mockery of the way black women stereotypically express themselves. Seeing the two laugh about the same infuriated people.
However, it was the picture of Jennifer Lewis popping up as they discussed people's cultural representation that netizens felt was disrespectful and insensitive. Though many were initially directing their anger at IVE's Ahn Yujin and Lee Youngji, some fans pointed out that there was nothing necessarily at fault with Yujin.
Since it was the editing of the image that seemed to cause most of the controversy, people felt that the responsibility lay with Lee Youngji and her show editors. Many pointed out that Yujin was innocently mocking the majority of the women she saw on TikTok and her being tied up in the mess created by the show host and her team wasn't fair.
While that did make sense to many, some still couldn't let go of the issue since there's a possibility that the idol was aware of her actions. However, along with this issue, what unwaveringly landed as Youngji's fault was her choice of clothing on the episode.
As soon as Lee Youngji stood up to fully display her T-shirt fans were immediately disappointed to see her wearing a Lord Ganesha print. Since the Hindu god is highly celebrated and respected by the majority of Hindus, her wearing it without realizing the significance it holds to the Indian culture and community left many upset.
The context being a drinking show came off as all the more disrespectful and insensitive to netizens. Hindu culture looks at alcohol, cigarettes, and other similar substances as taboos. The gods of the culture are ideally never associated with the same. Naturally, Lee Youngji wearing the T-shirt brought great offense to the community.
With Youngji offending both cultures and communities in the same episode along with her strong history of disrespecting the black community, fans have been unafraid to call her out about the same.
