Blackpink's 'Pink Venom' deemed unfit for broadcast on KBS's 'Music Bank'

Girl group Blackpink [YG ENTERTAINMENT]

Local brodcaster KBS ruled out Blackpink's latest song "Pink Venom" from its music program's rankings after deeming the song unfit for brodacast.

According to KBS's evaluation report released on Aug. 24, "Pink Venom" is not listed on its "Music Bank" program's rankings because the broadcaster judged that the song violates article 46 of the Broadcasting Regulations, which is about advertising. The article limits broadcasts from mentioning specific brand or product names.

The lyrics in question are part of member Lisa's rap which reads: "This da life of a vandal, masked up and I'm still in Celine."

Lisa is the global ambassador of Celine, a French luxury brand.

Broadcasting Regulations are a set of evaluative standards set by the Korea Communications Standards Commission, a government agency, created in order to determine the fairness and public nature of broadcasted contents in accordance with the Broadcasting Act.

Normally, when a song disqualifies for broadcast, the agency rectifies the part of the song that is problematic and requests a re-evaluation. However, based on the evaluation reports subsequent to those published on Aug. 24, Blackpink's agency, YG Entertainment, apparently did not apply for a re-evaluation.

"Pink Venom" is still listed on other broadcasters' music charts such as MBC's "Show Champion," Mnet's "M Countdown" and SBS's "Inkigayo."

"Pink Venom" was released on Aug. 19, ahead of Blackpink's full-length album "Born Pink," which is set for release on Sept. 16.

“Born Pink” marks the girl group’s return to the music scene after a year and 10 months. Its first full-length album “The Album” was released in October 2020 and became the first-ever million-seller among K-pop girl groups. Presales for the second album exceeded 1.5 million units one week after reservations opened.

Blackpink debuted in 2016 with the EP “Square One” and has released hit tracks including “Playing with Fire” (2016), “Forever Young” (2018) and “Lovesick Girls” (2020).

BY LEE JIAN [lee.jian@joongang.co.kr]