K-Pop Singer Giselle Apologizes for Mouthing Racial Slur in Video

K-pop singer Giselle, of music quartet aespa, has issued an apology after a video of her mouthing a racial slur sparked backlash online.

A behind-the-scenes clip of Giselle and her bandmates dancing to SZA and Travis Scott's popular track "Love Galore" was shared on SM Entertainment's YouTube channel, showing them as they prepared to release their EP, Savage.

And Japanese-Korean musician Giselle was seen enthusiastically dancing and smiling at the camera as she mouthed the lyrics to the track, which included the n-word.

Amid social media backlash, the video, which was uploaded on October 23, was made private, according to the South China Morning Post. NME reports that the video has now been taken down altogether.

On Monday, a statement attributed to Giselle was released on aespa's official Twitter account that read: "I would like to apologize for mouthing the wrongful word from the lyrics of the song that was playing on-site.

"I had no intentions of doing it with any purpose and got carried away when one of my favorite artist's song was played. I sincerely apologize."

The singer, real name Aeri Uchinaga, added in a follow-up tweet: "I will continue to learn and be more conscious of my actions."

Her band—which also includes Karina, Winter and Ningning—is relatively new to the music scene, having released their first single, "Black Mamba" in November 2020. Their EP, Savage—which is also the name of one of their singles—was released earlier this month.

Their EP's closing track, called "Lucid Dreams," was co-written by American singer-songwriter Hayley Kiyoko.

In an interview with Grammy.com, Giselle revealed that they "actually didn't get to meet [Kiyoko] and do an actual collaboration [even though] the song was made by her."

Giselle went on to say that she and her bandmates were "so surprised" when they found out that Kiyoko "wrote it for us," adding they were "so glad that we were able to sing it."

aespa, whose name is commonly stylized in lowercase, made huge strides in the fashion world in February of this year, when they signed on to become global brand ambassadors for Givenchy.

Their signing was notable because, rather than sign an individual from a group as has often occurred in the past, all members of the quartet were drafted in.

The luxury French fashion house's new creative director, Matthew M. Williams, said in a press release at the time: "When I first saw aespa, I was overwhelmed with the energy each member had.

"Both as a group and individually as Karina, Giselle, Winter, and Ningning, I could feel the strong individuality and style of each member, so naturally they would fit with Givenchy. aespa's fashion is having their own color."

"We are delighted to be with Matthew, the new creative director at Givenchy," the group said as part of an announcement shared by SM Entertainment.