Back in May, the South Korean girl group Oh My Girl released a song that their Korean fans felt had an Indian sound.
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Their Korean fans said the song sounded "Indian", and they gave the band the nickname 'curry-dols', a play on the term "idol", which is used to refer to celebrities in South Korea.
This new nickname annoyed their Indian fans.
I hope Oh My Girl realizes their mistakes with appropriating Indian/South Asian culture and calling themselves 'curry-dols'
However, shortly after they had been given the nickname, they went on to perform a song called "Curry".
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According to Korean Pop blog Soompi, the lyrics include "It’s yellow, spicy, and although it doesn’t smell nice, Taj Mahal” and “Shanti shanti, yoga fire! I love hot curry!"
Fans found the lyrics of the song even more offensive, and called them out for referring to one of their dance moves as the "Aladdin dance".
THIIIIIIISS. SHANTI SHANTI, YOGA FIRE??? SHANTI MEANS CALM. YOGA FIRE ISNT A THING. I LOVE HOT CURRY WTF??!
Then a week later at a fan signing, one of the band's members was photographed with a sticker that appeared to be a bindi on her forehead.
160710 잠실 팬사인회 프리뷰 #오마이걸 #OHMYGIRL #효정 カレー国の姫🇮🇳
The end result is that a whole lot of Indian k-pop fans are pissed off.
to be honest i never saw oh my girl appropriating my culture until the bindis 👁
Oh my girl cancelled they literally had a whole comeback based on racist indian n south asian stereotypes
ok real talk u can't act like what oh my girl did wasn't flat out racism? Aladdin dance, Curry dolls? Fake turbans? lmao nah
However, not everyone agrees that their actions were racist.
If y'all still call oh my girl racist well read this
OH MY GIRL ARE NOT RACIST
Oh My Girl's management did not respond to a request for comment.