Seunghee Burrito Incident
We know you’ve already read this but in the same show, many people were also offended with Seunghee’s STEREOTYPE of Mexican culture. Notice we said stereotype and not “racist behavior” because stan twitter categorizes these two things as one.
Before proceeding, we encourage you to go read this page below to further know the differences between stereotype and racist behavior. We believe that these concepts are significant for this topic.
From all those readings, it’s clear that this is an issue of stereotype. On Twitter or anywhere else, stans only show a clip of her doing it , and not what led up to it, which misunderstood many people and sparked so much anger and hate. What actually happened was Seunghee was asked to do a CF (commercial film) for a burrito. It’s not like what many people claim that she mentioned “Mexico” and “burrito” out of nowhere. And she did not even say “Mexicans and burrito.” What she actually said was “Burrito from Mexico,” and we believe that this should be pointed out because what Seunghee said was less towards Mexicans and more towards the food itself. Burritos are something that many people around the world associate with Mexico. The same way that people would associate a baguette with France, and sushi with Japan. But that’s not really the cause of the problem, it’s mainly because of her putting a candy on her chin to resemble a goatee and copying Mexican accents along the way.
Yes, people were offended. BUT before you judge her, please hear us out. In the world of variety shows, Seunghee is known for being very skillful at imitating people’s gestures and the way they speak. Was it right for her to put a candy on her chin and copy Mexican accents just to advertise burritos? You might get different responses when you ask Mexicans that question. Many would be annoyed but not offended, a few won’t mind at all, and some would be enraged. But people shouldn't be so quick to claim that she is being racist, when it can simply be just misinformation/ignorance. Stereotypes don't always have a malicious back story to it. Especially when it comes to food, many people can know only a few popular items from a country but it doesn’t automatically mean racist undertones. Please read the following images to know more about stereotypes.
In a country that only recently started to have diversity, it’s expected that the people there won’t know everything about other societies. Since Seunghee was part of that society, she was not aware that her stereotype would hurt people. Of course she found out later on and wanted to take accountability. However since WM IS A STERN COMPANY with no interest in the international public/marketing, SBS apologized on her behalf. We acknowledge and hold Seunghee accountable for her actions. But this still does not make her a racist. Regardless, an apology from Seunghee/WM is still needed.
You may ask “Why didn’t they just apologize?” The girls expressed their desire to apologize, but they were prevented by their company from doing so. And we’re pretty sure you already know the evidence to that, which was WM unliking a post asking the girls to apologize, Arin’s brother with his instagram post, and SBS apologizing on behalf of Seunghee. Although not confirmed (no receipt), many Miracles have claimed that the girls made several attempts to make an apology through their vlives and fancafe. However, the K-fans and the company covered up this problem, because they saw it as unimportant and unnecessary.
Since there are no receipts to their apology, it’s your choice whether to believe it or not. But many Intl-Miracles like us have looked into these, and we found that all of them were wiped out from the face of the internet. Even if there were no receipts, PLEASE DON’T GO OUT OF YOUR WAY TO THROW HATE TOWARDS THE GIRLS. We emphasized those words so that you can understand because this has always been dismissed just so people could bully.
After reading through all that, it’s up to you to decide whether their mistakes are as bad as others claim. What they did, although real people were offended, have been done by many other kpop groups (https://problematickpop.carrd.co). Why is there a very disproportionate amount of hate towards OMG? That’s because OMG has a small fandom internationally, which makes them very vulnerable to bullying on stan Twitter. We hope that you realize by now that hypocrisy and double standards do exist.
By the way, all of these are based on our opinions and you have the right to disagree. If you were offended, this still shouldn’t be a reason for you to bully as the girls are aware and learning. Instead, this should be used as an opportunity for EDUCATING them. Of course, it shouldn’t just be limited to them, that’s because almost 90% in KPOP aren’t educated on this matter. More than educating the idols, the COMPANIES NEED IT MORE, because they’re the ones who decide everything, from concepts to clothing. A simple mistake in concept/styling, could cause controversies.
This document does not mean to excuse nor force anyone to forgive the girls, it’s meant for bringing understanding that this is the situation they’re facing. Stans have left out SO MANY DETAILS, and only picked out parts to fit it in their narrative that Oh My Girl is this group who constantly do “problematic stuff.” Speaking of left out details, here’s a good example:
(The owner of the tweet now limits who can view the tweet and this is the only thing we’re able to catch but the contents are mostly accusing the girls with no context)