BLINKs Are Split Over This Scene Getting Cut From BLACKPINK's New Video
BLACKPINK's "Lovesick Girls" music video is getting a major update. After receiving criticism online over the portrayal of nurses in the video, YG Entertainment announced it will remove scenes showing Jennie wearing the costume moving forward. While some fans are on board with the decision, others feel it's not fair. The tweets about Jennie's scene getting cut from BLACKPINK's "Lovesick Girls" video are so split.
On Friday, Oct. 2, BLACKPINK made their comeback with "Lovesick Girls," which is the group's lead single off their debut record, The Album. The music video for the track received an impressive 61. 4 million views after a single day. Clearly, it received a lot of attention online, although not all of it was positive.
Days after the clip debuted on YouTube, the Korean Health and Medical Worker’s Union released a statement condemning the group's use of a nurse's uniform in some scenes. "The cap, tight and short skirt, and high heels are completely different from an actual nurse uniform. The outfit and portrayal directly imitate the typical sexual stereotype and excuse it as a simple 'costume,'" the union said, adding the move was especially insensitive during a global pandemic. "In a real hospital, not the ones in the media, nurses are fighting at the frontlines of COVID-19 and taking on the risk of infection for the safety and survival of the citizens."
Soon after, hashtags like #NursesAreNotCostumes, #Stop_Sexualizing_Nurses, and #nurse_is_profession spread on social media, causing YG to release a statement of its own, explaining the outfit was only meant to reflect the theme of the song.
"In the ‘Lovesick Girls’ music video, the scene with the nurse and the patient reflects the lyrics, ‘No doctor could help when I’m lovesick,'" YG said. "We ask that you think of music videos as an independent genre of art, and we would appreciate it if you could understand that each scene was made with no other intention than to express the music."
The agency ended their statement by revealing it was deliberating whether or not to cut Jennie's nurse scene from the video. Finally, on Oct. 7, YG announced they decide to remove it.
We have ultimately decided to delete all scenes involving the nurse outfit in BLACKPINK‘s ‘Lovesick Girls’ MV, and we plan on replacing the MV with the edited version as soon as possible. We will take this opportunity to deeply reflect on the heavy responsibilities laid out before us through this issue, caused due to the fact that we were unable to predict the rise of such a controversy within the length of the MV’s production as there was no external intention whatsoever. We would like to deeply apologize to nurses who felt discomfort from this issue. And once again, we deliver our sincerest feelings of respect toward all healthcare workers devoting themselves to the wellbeing of our nation.
The decision received mixed responses from BLINKs. Some understand the frustrations over the scene and agree with YG's decision to remove the nurse outfit from the video because they believe it invalidates the experiences and wishes of actual nurses.
Meanwhile, others don't see a problem with it at all and believe the outrage over the costume highlights a double standard male K-Pop idols who dress up like medical professionals in their videos do not have to deal with.
As of Oct. 8, BLACKPINK's "Lovesick Girls" music video has officially been updated to reflect the changes.
