SEVENTEEN's Wonwoo Called Out For Singing Offensive Song Stereotyping Indian Culture

Recently, there have been quite a few K-Pop artists receiving scrutiny for appropriating Indian culture. From Chungha‘s “Stay Tonight” to BLACKPINK‘s “How You Like That”, fans have been upset by the misuse of cultural items to fit their concepts.

SEVENTEEN‘s Wonwoo is the next idol to come under scrutiny for a brief moment in their latest Going SEVENTEEN episode that had fans fuming from his insensitivity toward Indian culture.

With the help of Hoshi to reach higher notes by pulling his sideburns, Wonwoo began to sing lines from Norazo‘s track “Curry”. As soon as Indian fans saw the moment, they were far from happy about it. Why?

The lyrics of the song are full of offensive stereotypes about Indian culture. Fixating only on parts of their culture, like curry and yoga, to paint an inaccurate and false picture of how expansive Indian culture truly is.

ill post loops first and then find a thread on why that curry song wonwoo was about to do is offensive still disappointed he even thought of singing that

— wonwoo loops ♡ (@wwloops) July 13, 2020

This song portrays Indians to be smelly curry loving, beef hating, yoga enthusiasts ITS WRONG ON SO MANY LEVELS

— miku⁷ (@jjkooromi) July 21, 2016

Worst of all, the music video for the song featured the musical duo in brown face and imitating sacred cultural movements in their dancing.

That’s why Carats are demanding that Wonwoo’s singing part should be removed from the episode and re-uploaded without the offensive song. Since they’ve done the same for previous Going SEVENTEEN moments where the members made lesser mistakes, fans want the same justice for this situation.

they deleted a live because jeonghan said fuck they reuploaded gose cus joshua sat on a FAKE us flag they 100% can reupload this shit

— َ (@vivshua) July 13, 2020

Although Wonwoo may not have intentionally meant to offend anyone with his choice of song, fans also want an apology. Because he places importance on gaining knowledge, it can be a situation where he learns from his mistakes and gains insight into authentic Indian culture.

As of now, the episode still features his singing of the song. No statements have been made to address the issue.