K-pop star AleXa speaks out against people who dub her ‘White girl idol,’ ‘invalidate’ her Korean heritage
June 23, 2023
Korean American K-pop soloist AleXa has spoken out against people who call her the “White girl idol” and “invalidate” her Korean heritage.
“White girl idol”: The 26-year-old singer recently opened up in a livestream about the hate she had been receiving for being a half-Korean K-pop idol. Clips of the livestream have since been uploaded to TikTok by a supporter of the singer, who believes that it is “racist and harmful to dismiss such a major part of her identity.”
“Is it because I’m American that people choose to treat me differently and that I didn’t grow up in Korea?” AleXa said, pointing to other half-Korean idols, including SEVENTEEN‘s Vernon and former Momoland member Nancy.
“Ethnically, I’m just as Korean as the rest of them, and yet people love to bash on me and completely invalidate the fact that I’m half-Korean,” the 26-year-old added. “People are gonna say what people are gonna say, but the fact that you guys just want to dub me as the ‘White girl idol’ whenever there’s actual Caucasians in K-Pop now. Like, you’re taking away all the struggles that my mother went through as an immigrant in America.”
More than a “meme idol”: AleXa went on to thank her fans who “genuinely support her as an artist and don’t just see [her] as a ‘meme idol,’” adding that she writes lyrics and composes songs.
“I really wish that people would recognize me for more than just like that one English-speaking idol, you know, because there’s a lot more to me than my sarcasm and that fact I speak English,” AleXa said. “Which just leaves me back to, would you treat a Korean-Korean idol the same way, you know?”
About the artist: AleXa, who is currently under Korea-based label ZB Label, recently released her latest single “Juliet” earlier this month.
In May 2022, she won the inaugural season of the Eurovision-inspired NBC competition show “American Song Contest,” beating out over 50 other vocalists with her original hit song “Wonderland.”
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