{"id":142378,"date":"2025-05-17T14:47:50","date_gmt":"2025-05-17T21:47:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.musicmundial.com\/en\/?p=142378"},"modified":"2025-05-17T14:47:50","modified_gmt":"2025-05-17T21:47:50","slug":"kiss-of-life-cancels-kcon-la-after-racial-and-cultural-appropriation-controversies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.musicmundial.com\/en\/kiss-of-life-cancels-kcon-la-after-racial-and-cultural-appropriation-controversies\/","title":{"rendered":"KISS OF LIFE cancels KCON LA after racial and cultural appropriation controversies"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>KISS OF LIFE<\/strong> dropped from <strong>KCON LA 2025<\/strong> just five days after being announced, and users and fans are pointing to a moment that caused major backlash. On April 2, 2025, the quartet threw a birthday livestream for member<strong> Julie<\/strong>, wearing old-school hip-hop fashion in all the wrong ways. The moment caused controversy, with fans calling them out for promoting stereotypes and cultural appropriation.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/kconusa\/status\/1923393554279498134?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1923393554279498134%7Ctwgr%5Ea849e1635819759c53108b0adc5cb2a4ea1e9655%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&#038;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pinkvilla.com%2Fentertainment%2Fkiss-of-life-dropped-from-kcon-la-just-5-days-after-announcement-following-fan-backlash-over-cultural-appropriation-controversy-1388120\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/twitter.com\/kconusa\/status\/1923393554279498134?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1923393554279498134%7Ctwgr%5Ea849e1635819759c53108b0adc5cb2a4ea1e9655%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pinkvilla.com%2Fentertainment%2Fkiss-of-life-dropped-from-kcon-la-just-5-days-after-announcement-following-fan-backlash-over-cultural-appropriation-controversy-1388120<\/a><\/p>\n<p>On May 16, KCON LA and S2 Entertainment released a joint statement saying the group would no longer perform, citing a \u201cmutual decision.\u201d But fans weren\u2019t buying the vague explanation. The livestream featured stereotypical portrayals of Black culture, including braided hairstyles and exaggerated mannerisms. One member even used the parody rap name \u201cLil Taco,\u201d which many felt crossed a line.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\">\n        <blockquote hcb-fetch-image-from=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/kchartsmaster\/status\/1908582429272793135\" class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">KISS OF LIFE issues a handwritten apology regarding Julie&#39;s birthday livestream. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Zu6iWZZ65S\">pic.twitter.com\/Zu6iWZZ65S<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Kpop Charts (@kchartsmaster) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/kchartsmaster\/status\/1908582429272793135?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">April 5, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n        <\/figure>\n        \n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Though S2 apologized on May 4 and the members followed with handwritten letters on May 6, many fans still felt the response lacked depth. KISS OF LIFE\u2019s removal feels like a sign that global fans are demanding real accountability. KCON LA will still happen from August 1 to 3, with groups like P1Harmony, NCT127, ZEROBASEONE, aespa, NMIXX, and RIIZE. And while fans are doubting the reasons behind KISS OF LIFE\u2019s cancellation, one thing\u2019s for sure: their birthday livestream is stil raising eyebrows.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>KISS OF LIFE dropped from KCON LA 2025 just five days after being announced, and users and fans are pointing to a moment that caused major backlash. On April 2, 2025, the quartet threw a birthday livestream for member Julie, wearing old-school hip-hop fashion in all the wrong ways. The moment caused controversy, with fans [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3104,"featured_media":142379,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1425,2264,16],"tags":[],"tmauthors":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-142378","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-concert","8":"category-entertainment","9":"category-kpop"},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicmundial.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicmundial.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicmundial.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicmundial.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3104"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicmundial.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142378"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicmundial.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142378\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicmundial.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicmundial.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicmundial.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicmundial.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142378"},{"taxonomy":"tmauthors","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicmundial.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tmauthors?post=142378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}