BLACKPINK’s Lisa removed from Bazaar China over controversy

Seoul — BLACKPINK member Lisa is caught in the crossfire over a group of clothing brands that rejected cotton produced in China’s Xinjiang.

According to K-pop news outlet Koreaboo, the 24-year-old’s recent cover with Bazaar China has been removed from the fashion magazine’s social media accounts.

The incident has been unfortunate for Lisa who is a Thai, as she does not participate in Chinese politics. Bazaar China as well as BLACKPINK’s management has not addressed the issue directly, according to Malay Mail Online. 

It is believed that the issue possibly arose from Lisa’s association with Adidas. The members of BLACKPINK models for Adidas Originals in South Korea and globally. Adidas was one of the companies under the Better Cotton Initiative that voiced their boycott of Xinjiang cotton amidst claims of forced labour. Other brands include Nike and H&M.

Media outlet kpopstarz reported that Lisa had been gaining immense popularity in China after being featured as a dance mentor for the Chinese reality show Youth With You.

In November 2020, fellow group member Jennie was criticised for holding a baby panda without wearing gloves in a reality show.

BLACKPINK is a South Korean girl group by YG Entertainment consists of four members, Jisoo, Jennie, Rosé, Lisa. Their ages range from 23 to 25 years old.

The girl band debuted in  August 2016 with their debut album entitled Square One. Each BLACKPINK member co-writes and co-produces their own music and their music style includes a wide range of genres.

BLACKPINK is the highest-charting female Korean act on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 13 with “Ice Cream” (2020), and on the Billboard 200, peaking at number two with The Album (2020). They were the first Korean girl group to enter and top Billboard’s Emerging Artists chart and to top the Billboard’s World Digital Song Sales chart three times.

The group has broken numerous online records throughout their career. Their music videos for “Kill This Love” (2019) and “How You Like That” (2020) each set records for the most-viewed music video within the first 24 hours of release, with the latter breaking three and setting two Guinness World Records. They are also the first music group and Korean act to have three music videos with at least one billion views on YouTube./TISG