K-pop Girl Band Pulls Video after Backlash in China over Baby Panda

BLACKPINK. (Getty Images)
BLACKPINK. (Getty Images)
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K-pop Girl Band Pulls Video after Backlash in China over Baby Panda

BLACKPINK. (Getty Images)
BLACKPINK. (Getty Images)

A reality TV episode showing K-pop girl band BLACKPINK holding a newly born panda was pulled after accusations in China that the group mishandled a national treasure, the latest row between South Korea’s entertainment stars and audiences in its large neighbor.

Last month, South Korean boyband BTS was heavily criticized in China after its leader made remarks about the Korean War, and some BTS-related products were removed from Chinese websites.

Fu Bao, the first panda to be born in South Korea was introduced to the public last week. Fu Bao’s parents arrived in 2016 from China’s Sichuan province, the home of giant pandas, as part of China’s “panda diplomacy”.

BLACKPINK included footage of the band members holding the baby panda in a teaser clip aired on YouTube earlier this month.

Some Chinese local media and online commentators denounced the girl group for touching Fu Bao with bare hands and while wearing too much make-up, saying it threatened the health of the young cub. The comments set off a storm on Weibo, China’s version of Twitter.

As of Tuesday, there were millions of views and 55,000 posts on hashtag “Blackpink touched panda cub wrongly” on Weibo.

The full episode was to have been broadcast on Nov. 7 and has been postponed, according to the group’s music label, YG Entertainment, although it defended the production.

“When BLACKPINK met the baby panda, all members wore hygiene gloves, masks and protective clothing ... hands and shoes were disinfected at every transition,” the agency said in a statement.

Hashtags “BLACKPINK” and “Panda” were trending on South Korean Twitter as well over the weekend. Some South Korean social media users pushed back at the Chinese criticism, urging South Korea to “return the pandas” or arguing that “pandas are not ours and it is too expensive to raise them anyway”.



Tomorrowland Music Festival Opens after its Main Stage was Destroyed by Huge Fire

The burned main stage is seen at the Tomorrowland music festival in Boom, Belgium, Friday, July 18, 2025, two days after a huge fire destroyed the stage on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Omar Havana)
The burned main stage is seen at the Tomorrowland music festival in Boom, Belgium, Friday, July 18, 2025, two days after a huge fire destroyed the stage on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Omar Havana)
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Tomorrowland Music Festival Opens after its Main Stage was Destroyed by Huge Fire

The burned main stage is seen at the Tomorrowland music festival in Boom, Belgium, Friday, July 18, 2025, two days after a huge fire destroyed the stage on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Omar Havana)
The burned main stage is seen at the Tomorrowland music festival in Boom, Belgium, Friday, July 18, 2025, two days after a huge fire destroyed the stage on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Omar Havana)

Fans roared in excitement and organizers sighed with relief as the Tomorrowland music festival kicked off Friday — just two days after a massive fire engulfed the main stage and threw one of Europe's biggest summer concert events into doubt.

Workers labored around the clock to clear out the debris from the elaborate backdrop that was consumed in Wednesday's fire.

Shouting ‘’We made it!'', the festival's opening performers, Australian electronic music group Nervo, were able to take to the main stage Friday after a last-minute scramble and slight delay. Some charred frames were still visible behind them.

No one was hurt in the fire, organizers said. The causes are being investigated.
Hundreds of thousands of people from around the world attend Tomorrowland's annual multi-day festival outside the Belgian town of Boom.

Some 38,000 people were camping at the festival site Friday, Tomorrowland spokesperson Debby Wilmsen said.

’’Maybe there are some few people that say, OK, we would like to have a refund, but it’s only like a very small percentage because most of them are still coming to the festival,” she told AP.

“It is all about unity, and I think with a good vibe and a positive energy that our festival-goers give to each other and the music we offer, I think they will still have a good time,″ she said. ’’We really tried our best.″

Australian fans Zak Hiscock and Brooke Antoniou — who traveled half the world to see the famed festival as part of a summer holiday in Europe — described hearing about the fire.

“We were sitting having dinner when we actually heard the news of the stage burning down. We were very devastated and shattered, quite upset because we travelled a long way,'' Hiscock said.

Ukrainian visitor Oleksandr Beshkynskyi shared their joy that the festival went ahead as planned.

‘’It’s not just about the one DJ or two DJs you’re looking to see, but about all the mood and about the dream being alive," Beshkynskyi said.