Hearts2Hearts Members Apologize After Afro Wig Segment on Japanese Variety Show Sparks Backlash
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Hearts2Hearts, SM Entertainment’s newest girl group, is once again at the center of online controversy — this time over a comedy segment from a Japanese variety broadcast that critics say crossed the line into racial insensitivity.
Members Jiwoo, Juun, and Ye-on have since issued individual apologies after clips of the group wearing Afro-style wigs during an improvised Michael Jackson tribute spread widely across social media, reigniting a familiar debate in the K-pop industry about cultural sensitivity, costuming, and the limits of variety-show comedy.
What Happened
The controversy traces back to August 12, when Hearts2Hearts appeared on a special episode of the Japanese streaming platform ABEMA, produced to mark the group’s official Japanese debut. The program, built around a series of comedy challenges modeled on classic Japanese variety formats, put the members through a string of improv-style games.
One of those games was a “monoboke” segment — a format in which participants are handed random props and asked to spontaneously build a joke or bit around them on the spot, with little to no preparation. Among the props provided to the group that day were Afro-style wigs.
Rather than setting them aside, several members put the wigs on and launched into an improvised routine referencing Michael Jackson, complete with dance moves associated with the late pop icon.
At the time of filming, the moment appeared to land as intended: a lighthearted bit fitting the loose, high-energy tone of Japanese variety comedy, where quick costume changes and impersonations are a long-standing staple of the genre. But once the episode aired and short clips of the segment began circulating on platforms like X (formerly Twitter), the reaction outside of Japan told a very different story.
The Backlash
International viewers, many of them longtime K-pop fans, quickly flagged the segment as an example of a recurring problem in the industry: the casual use of Afro hairstyles as a costume or punchline, disconnected from the cultural and historical weight the hairstyle carries for Black communities.
Commenters pointed out that regardless of intent, styling oneself in an Afro wig specifically to imitate a Black cultural icon read, to many, as more than harmless comedy.
Screenshots and short video clips of the segment spread rapidly, accumulating replies that ranged from pointed criticism to outright accusations of racism.
Some posts framed the incident as part of a broader pattern of K-pop groups treating Black hairstyles, aesthetics, or cultural touchstones as props for entertainment rather than something requiring care and context.
Others pushed back, arguing the segment was a straightforward Michael Jackson impression — noting the members did not alter their skin tone and were simply mimicking an artist whose Afro hairstyle in his younger years was itself iconic — and suggested the backlash was overblown given the format’s role as an unscripted game show bit.
Notably, some of the most pointed responses came not from casual critics but from members of the group’s own international fan base, including voices from Black K-pop fan communities who said they were pushing for accountability specifically to protect the members from a bigger blow-up down the line, drawing comparisons to prior instances where K-pop acts faced sustained backlash over similar styling choices involving Afro-textured hair and Black cultural references.
The Apologies
Facing a fast-escalating conversation online, three members of Hearts2Hearts addressed the criticism directly. On August 14, Jiwoo was first to respond, posting a statement through the fan community platform Weverse. She acknowledged that in the moment, she hadn’t fully thought through how the styling and her actions on camera might be interpreted, or that they carried the potential to hurt people.
She wrote that after taking in the reactions and comments from fans, she had come to understand why her actions were considered wrong, and offered a sincere apology, adding that she and the rest of the members intended to be more careful and thoughtful going forward.
Juun followed with her own reflection, expressing that she should have thought more carefully about her actions during filming and pledging greater awareness moving forward.
Ye-on also posted a personal statement, echoing similar sentiments — that she had reflected on how her actions could affect others regardless of what she’d intended, and that she would try to think more deeply about how her behavior might be received in the future.
She closed her message with an apology directed at anyone who felt hurt or disappointed because of the segment.
None of the statements attempted to dismiss the criticism or frame the backlash as unwarranted; instead, each member’s message centered on acknowledging the impact of the segment and committing to more caution in future appearances.
As of this writing, SM Entertainment itself had not issued a separate corporate statement specifically addressing the wig segment, with the response instead coming directly and personally from the members involved.
A Group Already No Stranger to Controversy
For Hearts2Hearts, this episode adds to a string of controversies that have followed the group almost since its formation.
The eight-member act — made up of Jiwoo, Carmen, Yuha, Stella, Juun, A-na, Ian, and Ye-on — was unveiled in January and officially debuted on February 24 with their single “The Chase,” making them one of the most closely watched rookie debuts of the year given SM Entertainment’s promotional push behind them.
Even before their debut, the group’s teaser images sparked debate among fans who felt the concept and visual styling bore a strong resemblance to NewJeans’ Y2K-influenced aesthetic, leading to online accusations of imitation that SM never directly addressed.
Individual members have also weathered separate controversies, including online scrutiny over past social media posts and unverified rumors, prompting the agency to release statements warning of legal action against those spreading what it called baseless claims.
That backdrop has left the group’s fanbase somewhat primed for controversy, and this latest incident has reopened debate about whether the frequency of these episodes reflects genuine missteps by a young, inexperienced group navigating an unfamiliar entertainment market, or whether it points to a broader lack of guidance and preparation from their management heading into international promotions.
Although they go true some contreversy, they are also doing good thing : Hearts2Hearts July Update: Lemon Tang Success & Japan Debut
Part of a Larger Pattern in Entertainment
The Hearts2Hearts incident also lands within a much longer history of celebrities and public figures facing backlash over the use of Afro-style wigs and hairstyles outside of Black cultural contexts.
Beauty YouTuber Patrick Starrr, for instance, apologized several years ago after wearing an Afro wig to a friend’s birthday party, following accusations of cultural appropriation, despite saying he had gotten consent from the friend he was celebrating.
Fashion Week runway shows have faced similar criticism in the past over the styling of non-Black models in traditionally Black hairstyles without adequate context or representation.
Within K-pop specifically, hairstyling choices involving Afro-textured wigs, cornrows, or dreadlocks have periodically triggered backlash when fans felt the aesthetic was borrowed without acknowledgment of its cultural origin, particularly in a genre that draws heavily on Black musical traditions like hip-hop and R&B while facing recurring criticism over how respectfully those influences are credited and represented.
In Conclusion :
For now, Hearts2Hearts appears to be treating the matter as resolved on their end, with the three members’ apologies standing as the group’s public response while they continue promoting their first Japanese single, “ICONIC HEART.”
Whether the controversy meaningfully affects the group’s momentum in Japan — a market they were specifically working to establish themselves in with this broadcast — remains to be seen.
What is clear is that the episode has reignited an ongoing conversation within K-pop fandom about how much responsibility falls on idols, many of whom are still teenagers or in their early twenties, versus the production companies and broadcasters who design these variety segments and hand performers the props in the first place.
As international fandoms increasingly hold groups accountable to global cultural standards rather than only domestic ones, incidents like this are likely to keep surfacing as K-pop agencies expand more aggressively into markets like Japan, Southeast Asia, and the West.
What do you think of all this ???
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