Aespa’s Prayer Moment Goes Viral, Sparking Debates Over Religion And Respect

A recent moment during aespa‘s livestream has resulted in some debates over religion.

On November 17, aespa celebrated their fourth anniversary and held a livestream to commemorate the moment. During the livestream, the group had a lit cake that the members took a moment before digging into.

Ningning went viral from this moment on, as she did not pray or make a wish like the other members but instead took a bite from the cake.

Aespa NingNing’s Viral Moment During Livestream Sparks Reactions

Originally, the moment was regarded as another funny instance of Ningning being comedic, but has since sparked more serious debates.

For one, some fans pointed out that Ningning was wearing a cross during this moment, leading to some accusations of disrespect towards Christianity.

they way yall disrespect Christianity is insane https://t.co/JkYXf8Bb44

— ' (@baekyoong456) November 18, 2024

I don’t understand why people fint this funny when her behaviour should be consider as disrespectful ??? https://t.co/R7COPjGxQS

— ツ𝓢𝓸𝓾𝓻 𝓰𝓻𝓪𝓹𝓮𝓼🇫🇷 (@S4_GYEJEOL) November 18, 2024

no one bats an eye when this group disrespects christians https://t.co/M3mAXJj6KA

— phi (@iced_float) November 18, 2024

This was taken further when a viral tweet mentioned Koreans as being “brainwashed” into Christianity by Americans, in light of Ningning coming from China and connecting her atheism to Communism. Many reactions to this tweet included criticism assumptions being made about Chinese people and communism, as well as the usage of the word brainwashing in this respect.

Chinese diva, communism saving her from the brainwashing that Koreans suffered from the USA https://t.co/Ooxn8BeetY

— nanay (@n0napple) November 18, 2024

this “anyone Chinese or anything remotely Chinese = communist” isn’t the serve you think it is btw https://t.co/7L21YIYFSP

— 🦋 (@ningningsaveme) November 19, 2024

Is it me or is this actually rlly weird to say… like why would you call someone’s religion brainwashing and that they need saving from it 🤨 https://t.co/74UNPCYumC

— Jiji | 合 hiptape (@ate_kilino) November 19, 2024

I'm so done with you people genuinely…. Praising communism so you can mocking people's faith is nasty and not the woke activism you think it is.
Also you think communism is saving her when she's literally working in the very capitalist South Korea and enjoying it's perks? https://t.co/czkeqbswC4

— Reem AJ (@RereSone) November 19, 2024

At the same time, many felt that any “mocking” or joking about religion was not serious in opposition with those who felt that certain reactions to religious idols were “weird.”

Not to be too woke but some of y'all are really weird about religion and religious people in general https://t.co/LvTopfp5vP

— Sah 👩🏽‍🦽✝️ (@minhyeshua) November 18, 2024

It’s weird how y’all act like idols aren’t humans like everybody else. How surprised y’all are when they do the most basic thing and honestly the way y’all act toward religion and religious people. Understand it bring trauma to some but leave alone the one who find comfort in it https://t.co/x7fT26inIU

— classy (@beautyartistik) November 18, 2024

u dumb disrespectful people in the qrts and replies are actually so infuriating because why is it so hard to respect someone’s religion? Yall love to hate and act like we’re sensitive but all you guys do is disrespectful us so we have every right to be mad 😐 yall are so immature https://t.co/N6bTIGmWXI

— emily ♡ saw skz (@yogutnojams) November 19, 2024

you’re just finding out that korean pop singers are human and believe in different stuff including religion? south korea’s primordially consists of christians buddhists, this shouldn’t be a surprise https://t.co/riul8FbjMt

— mar (@yvwons) November 18, 2024

While the topic of religion can be a sensitive one, it seems there will always be some sort of debate around the topic when it includes idols.