KCON drops Kiss of Life following racist birthday party

In a surprising turn of events, a major event has actually put its money where its mouth is and dropped a group for their exposed racism.

Earlier this year, the kpop group Kiss of Life truly showed their asses at a group member's streamed birthday party. The theme was "old schoool hip hop vibes", and included a number of gross stereotypes and appropriation of Black culture, including cornrows, oversized gold chains and trucker hats, bantu knots, etc and so on.

They put out a statement apologizing after backlash hit, then they put out a second apology, but the internet has stayed on their neck and only a few days after they were announced as performing at the festival KCON, a statement was released that they will NOT be performing there after all.

Said statement reads, "Thank you for your continued interest and support for KCON LA 2025. Regrettably, after careful consideration and thorough discussions exploring all avenues for participation, KCON and S2 Entertainment have mutally decided that KISS OF LIFE will no longer be participating in KCON LA 2025. We sincerely apologize to the fans who were looking forward to their performance, and we kindly ask for your understanding. We will do our best to bring you even more special and memorable experiences in the months ahead. Sincerely, KCON team."

Could this speak to this being tolerated less and less in kpop? Probably not, but it's a start.

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