Recently making headlines and becoming a viral hashtag is South Korean K-pop girl group Blackpink’s maknae Lisa and her entertainment company YG Entertainment.
The Thai rapper is currently in Paris for Fashion week and caught her fans by surprise when she didn’t attend the BVLGARI fashion shoots and events. And what angered the fans more was the Label’s response to their actions, citing the reason as Covid regulations.
This was shocking to her fans A.k.a, Lillies. As other fellow members of the group (Jennie, Jisoo, and Rosé) were allowed to attend their respective events without any restrictions. The other members each traveled to Paris in September, representing their French Fashion houses and attending other prominent events. Lisa followed and joined them on October 4, as she was busy promoting her solo album in South Korea.
The news about Lisa’s absence went haywire when the CEO of BVLGARI, Jean Christophe Babin, commented on Instagram, saying that the Thai idol’s company didn’t want her to attend the events, sparking a lot of opinions from Lisa’s fans. “Lisa is in Paris, but unfortunately, due to COVID, her agency doesn’t want her to participate [in any event],” wrote Babin. “[It’s a] pity as we have an incredible BVLGARI event tomorrow (October 6) in Milano, and she won’t attend.”
Following this comment, the fashion house also confirmed her absence at their BVLGARI brand campaign 2021/22 alongside actress Zendaya Coleman, Lili Aldridge, and Vittoria Ceretti. And that they are also actively planning to work with the rapper-singer soon. Lisa has been working with BVLGARI since 2020 and is officially their Global Ambassador.
Fans commented on how the company only applies these regulations to Lisa. And within a few hours of seeing this mistreatment, they trended tags such as #JusticforLisa and #YGLetLisaDoHerWork, showing their anger towards YG Entertainment. Adding more fuel to the fire was when fans noticed that the Thai artist’s solo album was no longer present under the label’s Spotify playlist. And this seems to be quite a stretch in the minds of fans who clearly define this action as pure mistreatment.
Lisa is quite renowned in the industry, as she is the most followed Kpop idol on Instagram and Youtube. And recently, the artist made headlines for her debut solo album, Lalisa, which broke multiple records, officially making her one of the most popular Kpop female idols in the world. This is why fans are often heavily surprised at the mistreatment she receives. While sticking to the topic, it’s integral to know that this isn’t the first time the idol has faced such problems.
Previously, the entertainment label was called out for not protecting Lisa against death threats, racism, and even a scam of about one billion won by her manager. These incidents made fans think about the management ethics of the Label.
The events that made fans point their fingers towards the Label are too many to count. But, there are some noticeable ones, like when her label pushed the idol back for promotional events that were for the whole group and when fans intimated the Thailand embassy in Seoul of the death threats being sent against Lisa instead of her label intimating them.
Fans are so enraged that about a few hours after trending the above hashtags, the company’s stocks have dropped. And after realizing the power of social media, making the stock of an alleged Big 3 label drop, fans don’t seem to be slowing down with their memes and tweets.
Following all the uproar and hate from social media, the entertainment label in question is yet, to make a comment or statement.
Edited by Anupama Roy
