RIIZE Member Directly Responds To Now-Deleted Racist Message

Recently, RIIZE’s Eunseok went viral after posting a photo of himself as a child for Children’s Day.

However, one of the photo captions he posted sparked massive controversy online for the use of a derogatory term, kkamdoongie, often compared to the n-slur in the English language.

Top Idol Calls Himself “The N-Word” In Now-Deleted Message, Sparking Criticism

Most recently, Eunseok came on Bubble to directly respond and apologize regarding the matter.

Yesterday, I used an inappropriate expression while sending a photo of myself from my childhood. I apologize to those who were offended by my thoughtless and wrong choice of words. Although I realized my mistake yesterday and deleted the post immediately, my heart still felt heavy thinking about the people I had hurt, so I decided to send another message here on Bubble. I sincerely apologize and will think and act more carefully in the future.

— Eunseok

K-Netizens felt that as long as he apologized and was aware of his mistake, it was fine.

• “It’s not like he said it on someone else’s photo. He wrote it for his photo and quickly deleted it after realizing his mistake. Those who keep making a fuss even though he apologized for it are the weird ones.”
• “As a fan, I think they are relieved that he apologized. As there is a Korean connotation for the word, it might not have seemed like such a big deal, but he is being cautious because of the international fans.”
• “Eunseok fans are fine about it. Why is everyone else making a fuss?”
• “If he said it about his photo, it is a mistake. As long as he made an apology and is aware of it, then he should just be careful in the future.”