"We will be more cautious": SHINee's Taemin and Key release apology letters following their alleged colorist remarks towards their fellow member Minho

On September 26 SHINee-ing's latest episode showcased the members Taemin and Key making alleged colorist remarks towards their fellow group member SHINee's Minho. As the three were seated on a bed talking about random topics, Miho suggested that they could play golf sometime and requested the other two to join him at least for one one game.

However, the suggestion was shifted to them talking about his skin tone as they joked about how tanned he would get after golfing. Taemin said:

"But when I see you after you play golf, all I can see are the whites of your eyes and teeth."

To this Key added,

"Seriously why did you get so tanned? If Minho closes eyes and mouth at night, you'll be ... ( demonstrates struggling to search in the dark)."

While Minho didn't reply much and tried to move on about the same, fans were evidently offended and frustrated about the issue, especially since it came from K-pop idols who are not only old enough but have worked in the industry for a long time to understand the weight of such comments.

After the issue, blew up on the internet, on Saturday, September 30, Taemin and Key along with their production team, PRISM Production Center, released a statement of apology. The statement said:

"Moving forward, we will be more cautious and attentive to prevent recurrence."

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SHINee's Taemin and Key release apology statements regarding their alleged colorist joke towards Minho

As SHINee-ing's first episode neared the end, the three members were discussing ideas to execute in the future episodes of the show. When Minho, the sports and golf enthusiast, suggested that Taemin and Key should play golf with him, the two who aren't big fans of sports jokingly made silly excuses to reject the same.

However, Taemin also talked about how he can only see his teeth and the white parts of his eyes whenever he returns from golfing, and Key also added to the comment by stating that they'd have to search for Minho in the dark since he had tanned from playing golf. While the clip was later edited out of the video, fans were extremely unhappy with Taemin and Key joking about Minho's skin tone and called them out for their alleged colorist behavior.

As the issue blew up, both Taemin and Key released apology letters through SHINee's official Instagram page:

"This is SHINee's Key. I deeply apologize for my insensitive remarks in the recent content, and I have spent a lot of time reflecting on feedback from the fans who were disappointed by my comment. I will be more careful to make sure that my words and actions are more considerate moving forward. I sincerely apologize."

"This is SHINee's Taemin. My sincerest apologies for any discomfort and hurt caused by my inappropriate remarks in the recent content. Thanks to our fans, I fully understand why the comments I made were disrespectful and I will make a more diligent effort to be careful with my behavior and words in the future."

In addition to Taemin and Key's statement, the group production team also apologized from their side for the issues caused by their content release.

"We sincerly apologize to everyone who felt dissapointed and hurt by a content that was recently uploaded on SHINee's channel. Inappropriate remarks that were not ill-intended were included in the members' conversation. Once we became aware of the issue, we immediately removed the clip. We take the feedback from the fans very seriously, and we now understand how disrespectful these comments are. Both Taemin and Key are deeply regretting their behavior and reflecting in order to better in the future."

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Following the recognition of the fans' concerns and arguments by the SHINee members and their agency, fans have been much settled with the issue, especially after the detailed apology.