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On April 4, 2025, KISS OF LIFE's Julie was seen tearing up as a message from local fans played during the Manila concert. She also cried during her ending ment. This comes after the group started facing backlash after a controversial livestream for Julie’s birthday on April 2, 2025.
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During the live performance, KISS OF LIFE acted out racially insensitive stereotypes. Fans quickly called them out for cultural appropriation. The controversy erupted right before the K-pop group started the Philippines leg of their KISS ROAD world tour. The backlash was still fresh.
So, many expected the group to keep things subdued. However, a clip from the concert’s finale went viral. The South Korean idol's reason for crying is still unclear, but the viral clip has split opinions. Some online users accused her of trying to gain "sympathy" during the controversy.
"Theyre f*cking pathetic crying sympathy tears when they cant even actually address the modern day black face they knew was doing," an X user commented.
Several online users responded critically to Julie's viral clip, sharing their thoughts on the controversy and the group’s actions.
"Shes trying so hard to squeeze out them tears for sympathy points. Imagine an artists that so many black people supported just for her to treat our culture like a costume for her birthday party to not only joke with but to make fun of and belittle and display endless stereotypes," a fan remarked.
"She realizes shes not entering charts with twerking now," a user mentioned.
"Want to feel bad but girl did this herself… ain’t nobody ask for a birthday party with that theme," a person shared.
Meanwhile, others are supporting her, slamming the hate as rooted in "misogyny."
"Her pushing back tears to stop crying so she could finish talking This hurts to watch because of the pain in her voice. How can a person with so much love for her fans and her craft deserve so much hate after everything spun out of control," a netizen said.
"Yeah and I don’t condone what they did during the live. I’m just here to clear up the fake news going around—that she was crying because she’s playing the victim or asking for sympathy, when in fact, it was because of the fan surprise," a viewer noted.
"The fact that y’all are laughing at a WOMAN crying, & making fun of the way she looks? is very insane & showing the internalized racism, ignorance, & misogyny," another fan added.
KISS OF LIFE's birthday livestream controversy explained
The controversy began after KISS OF LIFE hosted a livestream on April 2, 2025. It featured a retro hip-hop theme.was held to celebrate Julie’s birthday. The event quickly drew cultural appropriation claims.
In the livestream, the members wore big gold chains, caps, and hairstyles like cornrows and Bantu knots. These styles have strong roots in Black culture. They danced to hip-hop music and tried freestyle rapping. Many felt it played into stereotypes and crossed a line.
Clips from the stream spread quickly online, sparking major backlash. S2 Entertainment, KISS OF LIFE, released an official apology. However, many fans found it insincere. Some fan pages went silent or shut down entirely in protest.
To address the backlash, KISS OF LIFE posted a handwritten apology on April 5, 2025. While some fans saw it as progress, others felt it lacked accountability.
The controversy affected their popularity. According to Pinkvilla, they lost over 56,000 Instagram followers on April 3 and 22,000 more the next day. TikTok saw a sharper drop of 100,000 followers, and YouTube lost about 8,000 subscribers. Many fan pages also shut down or stopped posting.
KISS OF LIFE started their Asian leg of their KISS ROAD tour on April 4, 2025, right after finishing their Europe shows. They’re set to perform in nine cities across Asia. The key stops are Bangkok, Singapore, Macau, Yokohama, Osaka, and Manila (where they recently had a concert). Next, the group is lined up to serve at Hungary’s Sziget Festival in August 2025.
