"Had no specific intent": ATEEZ's agency apologizes for playing and dancing to the offensive Curry song on MBC's Idol Radio

On July 9, 2023, KQ Entertainment officially released an apology for ATEEZ members’ singing, dancing, and recommending the controversial Curry song on famous variety shows. Most recently, San and Yunho were seen singing and dancing to the song in a behind-the-scenes footage of MBC’s Idol Radio while Yeosang was standing beside them, sensing that something was wrong.

The apology was made after many fans, especially South Asians, expressed their disappointment with the BOUNCY singers continuing to use an offensive track on national television.

The song, Curry, was released over a decade ago, in 2010, and while it may not have ignited a strong response earlier, it has fuelled strong distaste amongst South Asians as it stereotypes and mocks their culture, especially the Indian culture. KQ Entertainment released a statement on Twitter saying:

“Hello, this is KQ Entertainment. We would like to address the issues in regard to the online content of MBC R’s “Idol Radio” released yesterday afternoon featuring ATEEZ. The artist had no specific intent with their actions in the scene in question but unknowingly hurt many of the fans.”

The agency further added:

“We would like to extend our sincerest apologies to the fans who have felt such discomfort and disappointment. We will work diligently to establish a management system that better educates and prevents recurrence of such actions so that we do not cause any worries to our fans in the future. Thank you.” (Translation via Soompi)

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ATEEZ’s San and Yunho sing the controversial Curry song on MBC’s Idol Radio; network studio and KQ Entertainment apologize for not being careful

ATEEZ guested on MBC’s Idol Radio on June 21, 2023, as one of the ways to promote their recent comeback with title track, BOUNCY (K-HOT CHILLI PEPPERS). The behind-the-scenes footage for the episode was released on July 8, and fans found a problematic scene in it.

While joking about DJ San, Yunho and San began singing the lines of Norazo’s infamous song, Curry. San also danced a bit while Yeosang behind him looked all nervous as he looked here and there and then moved away.

Fans, especially Indians, were incredibly upset with ATEEZ once again referencing the song. In the past, Seonghwa had also written the song’s name while playing a game on a variety show earlier. Fans expressed how disappointed they were and demanded an apology. On July 9, shortly after KQ Entertainment released their apology statement alongside network channel MBC.

MBC apologized for “causing discomfort” to fans. They apologized for not being careful during post production and assured that the problem would never occur in the future.

“In the behind-the-scenes video of ‘Idol Radio’ that was released on July 8, there was a scene featuring the song 'Curry.' We apologize for causing discomfort to viewers all around the world through the scene featuring the relevant song. We did not have any [negative] intentions, and we feel deeply responsible for not checking this during the inspection process. We will become thoroughly aware of this issue so that this problem does not occur going forward.” (Translation via Soompi)

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Meanwhile, ATEEZ will be meeting fans at the much-anticipated KCON LA 2023, a three-day music festival held from August 18 to 20, 2023.