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World-famous K-pop rapper T.O.P from BIGBANG is drawing criticism for allegedly blurring K-pop girl group BLACKPINK's name from a re-shared post on his Instagram Stories. The rapper posted a story about girl group 2NE1's surprise reunion at the 2022 Coachella Music Festival and shaded BLACKPINK's name in the hashtag.
By the looks of it, blurring the girl group’s name hasn’t set right with BLACKPINK fans, known as Blinks. They have flooded various social media platforms expressing their disappointment and anger towards the male rapper.
T.O.P draws criticism after shading BLACKPINK's name on his Instagram
On April 18, BIGBANG member T.O.P took to his official Instagram account and posted an article about K-pop girl group 2NE1’s unexpected reunion at the 2022 Coachella Music Festival. The article described how 2NE1 has become the second girl group to ever perform at Coachella.
The original feature stated that 2NE1 joined BLACKPINK as the second K-pop girl group to ever perform at the music festival. However, T.O.P blurred BLACKPINK’s name in his post and only mentioned 2NE1.
The rapper's post caused significant backlash from the girl group’s fan base. Many commented that removing the group’s name from the post was unnecessary and immature as the rapper is a senior and should know better.
Fan reactions
BLINKs also stated that if he wanted to congratulate 2NE1 for reuniting at the music festival, he could have found a similar post that did not mention BLACKPINK.
YG Entertainment is known for its “YGE Family '' status, which refers to how artists under the recording label are more than just seniors and juniors to each other, they are a family.
However, netizens believe that this kind of treatment towards BLACKPINK is unjust and that the K-pop rapper instigated hate against the girl group.
Despite receiving hate comments, some netizens believe that T.O.P might have simply celebrated 2NE1’s reunion and had no wrong intentions. Additionally, since the male rapper is no longer a part of YG Entertainment, he might have thought it best to remove BLACKPINK’s name to avoid being told to delete the content.
Meanwhile, 2NE1 reunited after more than six years for a surprise performance on the second day of Coachella 2022. Group members Bom, Dara, and Minzy re-joined CL after her solo performance and shared the stage for the first time since their official group disbandment in 2016. The girls performed their 2011 hitmaker I Am The Best.
