In light of recent events, a Thai news channel brought up the incident regarding Lisa receiving a racist comment on the internet.

Following Lisa’s appearance at the 2018 Golden Disk Awards, a hateful netizen left a comment that read:

“With makeup on, she looks like a Russian elf girl… If she dyes her hair black and washes off her makeup, she’s nothing but a Thai girl…”

In response to this remark, fans from all over the world started the #RESPECT_LISA movement and spoke up about the racism issue that is still rampant in Korea.

Even fellow k-pop star, BamBam of Got7 spoke up in Lisa’s defense and added, “Some people are like that, but there are way more people who love Lisa.”

In response, the media and fans of Thailand are saying, “Korea must stop being racist toward Southeast Asians.”

Although racism toward non-Korean idols is nothing new, it’s been noticed that Lisa’s case is the first of its kind that blew up so big and persisted for so long.

The PR head of a Thai entertainment agency joined in on the discussion and said:

“Major Korean entertainment agencies such as SM and JYP have had members from Southeast Asia before, but for YG, Lisa is the first. On top of that, Lisa isn’t of mixed blood, but she’s completely Southeast Asian. In the past, even when Korean agencies selected foreign members, they leaned toward those with similar features such as Japanese and Chinese people. So when YG selected Lisa as their first foreign member, the K-Pop fandom must have been shocked.”

In response, a manager of a different Thai entertainment agency joined in and said:

“Korean stars must have plastic surgery and provide sexual favors. Due to the country’s egotism, it’s common for foreign stars to not be properly compensated while the Korean stars go off making a lot of money. This was known before, but having a current star’s name mentioned is what drew so much attention.”

They also added that the Korean society must acknowledge that such racism exists.

They stressed that Korea has been known to strongly favor Koreans, Japanese, Chinese, and mixed-blood of Caucasian origin, but now that K-Pop is a global phenomenon, they shouldn’t be so exclusive.