Kiss of Life’s Julie is once again apologizing for her culturally insensitive birthday livestream.
After previously issuing apologies through their record label, S2 Entertainment, and a handwritten letter on social media, the 25-year-old member of the rising K-Pop girl group confronted the situation through an Instagram Live stream on Saturday (May 31).
“The members and I wanted to speak up about what happened before and even after the apology letter went up,” Julie began. “But we wanted to be very careful about how we brought up the situation … It is nerve-wracking talking about everything that is going on. But because we are a bit more of a mature group, it’s very important for us to take accountability for our actions, whether it is good or bad.”
She continued, “Yes, we do realize that what we did was wrong and we spent a lot of time together on how to learn from this and move forward, trying to educate ourselves more so that something like this doesn’t happen again. I wanna take the time to use this opportunity to apologize to the Black and Latino community. We do understand that we’ve hurt and disappointed a lot of our fans.”
“What we can promise is that we’re working hard to be better and show everyone our passion for music in whatever genre it is,” she added.
The apology follows multiple waves of criticism after the group held a livestream for Julie’s birthday in April, which featured an “old-school hip hop” concept many viewers perceived as culturally insensitive.
The group’s label S2 Entertainment issued an official statement following the stream and apologized “for our shortcomings in recognizing the negative cultural implications” and removed the contents.
As the controversy continued, it was announced that Kiss of Life would no longer participate in KCON LA 2025. Organizers for the convention stated the decision was made mutually with S2 Entertainment after “careful consideration and thorough discussions.”
Kiss of Life, a four-member K-Pop group consisting of Julie, Natty, Belle, and Haneul, debuted in 2023 and quickly rose to prominence with viral hits like “Shhh,” and “Midas Touch.”
Their breakthrough Afrobeat-inspired single “Sticky” peaked at No. 10 on the U.S.-based World Digital Song Sales chart last July and also charted on Billboard’s Global 200, per Billboard.
Despite the recent setbacks, the group is preparing to release a new mini-album 224, featuring the title track “Lips Hips Kiss,” on June 9.
