Twice cancels China events after faux pas
Newbie girl group Twice decided to put promotional events in China on hold after one member, Tzuyu, came under fire for waving the flag of Taiwan while appearing on the popular reality TV show.
Tzuyu and other members of the multiethnic nine-member girl group waved the national flags of their countries while appearing on “My Little Television,” which compiles the personal broadcasts of celebrities.
Although the footage involving national flags was edited out before it aired on TV, people could watch the full version online. As a result, some pro-Chinese activists called attention to the clip online.
Due to the rocky diplomatic relationship between China and Taiwan, JYP Entertainment, which represents the girl group, issued a statement Thursday through its official Weibo account.
“We feel sorry for the Internet rumors,” the post said. “We are always open to any kind of cooperation with China as a company which produces cultural content.
“Our company is not involved in any political movement or action, and Tzuyu is just 16 years old and she is too young to express her own political opinion,” JYP continued. “This rumor has caused a problem with our Chinese partners, and we decided to cancel all the scheduled Chinese promotions until the issue becomes clear.”
Twice debuted in October and consists of members from Korea, Taiwan and Japan.
The K-pop group’s dance track “Like Ooh-Ahh” was released months ago but it is still popular on music charts and the group decided to reprise the song recently, although they officially wrapped up the promotion for the song.
Meanwhile, a major Chinese video-sharing website decided to stop uploading videos related to Twice for awhile despite the statement from JYP.
BY SUNG SO-YOUNG
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
To write comments, please log in to one of the accounts.
Standards Board Policy (0/250자)