Stray Kids' Han Under Fire For Pre-Debut Rap That Includes Racist And Ableist Slurs

Stray Kids‘ Han has recently come under fire for his past actions. Although the issue in question occurred pre-debut, it has only been brought to light as of late.

Fans discovered that in one of this pre-debut raps, he had included not only the n-slur, but also a racist phrase against Southeast Asians. His rap also included an ableist term. The rap clip was originally uploaded by Han when he was around 13 to 14 years of age.

In the sound clip going around on Twitter, his rap lyrics can be heard as, “Are you a kkamdoongie foreign laborer, you motherf*cking pig bird“. He also mentions in his lyrics, “mental hospital” and “mental patient” in a few lines as a diss. A few lines later, he also allegedly utters the n-slur.

The term “kkamdoongie” is an offensive slang, often used to degrade people with darker skin. It’s been compared to the n-slur in the English language. Southeast Asians are also commonly called “foreign laborers” in racist commentary, given the history and cliche of Southeast Asians travelling to South Korea for manual jobs.

A fan has also attempted to translate the full lyrics from the sound clip from a transcribed source. Many of the lyrics remain unclear due to the stylization of the rap.

im korean and i am in a gc w fluent korean speakers + we tried our best to make an accurate translation of his lyrics but parts of it were really difficult to tell what he was saying… please spam them on bubble if u have it + use #한버블 if u dont pic.twitter.com/77qSO8tq5a

— all about han! (@allabthan) February 2, 2021

The original rap was uploaded by Han on his personal YouTube prior to debut. It was taken down eventually, but some netizens have reuploaded a clip onto Twitter.

jisung from skz said the n word + body shaming and xenophobia in a song he made when he was 13, ppl are defending him saying he was immature and trying to clear the tags with park jisung from nct so people are getting confused pic.twitter.com/at30Don4u8

— naomi⁷ (@eclipsenao) February 2, 2021

Neither Han nor JYP Entertainment has yet to speak on this matter in particular. On the other hand, while some international netizens are outraged, a portion defends his mistakes as one of immature youth.

Update: Han has issued a handwritten apology about the controversy.