Billboard Faces Backlash Again After Leaving Out KATSEYE’s Yoonchae From Promotional Post
US music outlet Billboard is facing renewed accusations of racial bias after posting promotional content for global girl group KATSEYE that excluded the group’s Korean member, Yoonchae. Since this isn’t the first time the same mistake has happened, criticism from fans has only grown more intense.
The controversy began after Billboard shared a post on its official social media introducing KATSEYE’s new song “Animal.” Alongside a group photo, Billboard posted individual images of each member — except Yoonchae’s photo was missing entirely.
Fans who noticed quickly reacted, with comments like “Where’s Yoonchae’s photo?”, “Explain why the Korean member was the only one left out,” and “This is hard to write off as a simple mistake.” Some raised concerns of racial bias, pointing out that Yoonchae has been repeatedly excluded in incidents like this.
As the controversy spread, Billboard didn’t add Yoonchae’s photo — instead, it deleted all of the individual member photos it had posted, leaving only the group photo. No apology or explanation was issued, and criticism has continued as a result.
The bigger issue is that this isn’t the first time something like this has happened. Back in May, Billboard faced a similar controversy after leaving Yoonchae out while introducing a set of KATSEYE members’ selfies. At the time too, fans pointed out that this didn’t read as a simple editing mistake, but rather as one specific member being repeatedly excluded.
This latest incident has also brought up Billboard’s past controversies. In 2021, while covering BTS’s bid for a Grammy, Billboard published an illustration depicting the members alongside Grammy trophies that drew criticism for caricaturing Asian people. The illustrator behind that image apologized at the time, but Billboard itself never issued an official statement.
Source: (A)
