This year’s sole girl group survival show comes from Korean tv station, Mnet’s “Girls Planet 999”. The show consists of 99 trainees split into 3 groups of Korean, Chinese, and Japanese trainees. It’s said the group will debut 3 trainees from each country. The show is set to air on August 6 and Mnet has shown previews and trailers of the show.
On July 29, Mnet uploaded the below trailer of the first episode. It shows former “Youth With You 2” contestant, Yenny Fu Yaning (符雅凝), humming to CLC’s “Helicopter” with a modified lyric from the song directed at CLC member, Choi Yujin, “We go up, but you don’t”. She is then shown saying, “I will conquer 99 girls.”
Yenny Fu Yaning went viral on Twitter for disrespecting Choi Yujin who already has a big fanbase and can be considered her senior. While some netizens said it’s probably a result of evil editing to drum up drama for the show, many called for Yenny Fu to be voted out at 99th place for dissing Choi Yujin.
Aside from that, netizens dug up old clips of Yenny Fu saying the N-word while covering Doja Cat’s “Say So” in multiple performances.
The issue with Yenny Fu saying the N-word in previous performances was finally brought to her attention. On July 28, Yenny Fu’s management company, Gramerie Entertainment, posted her handwritten apology letter on Weibo. The letter was titled, “Apology Letter”:
“Hello everyone, I am Fu Yaning. In previous public performances, due to cultural differences, I didn’t have a clear understanding of the song’s racially discriminatory and sensitive vocabulary in the lyrics. Because of this, the improper singing performances brought pain to a lot of people. I want to solemnly express my apologies to everyone here, I’m sorry.
At the same time, I want to express I absolutely have no concept of racial discrimination and respect every race and their culture. In regards to the mistakes this time that created adverse effects, I have already deeply reflected and humbly accept everyone’s criticisms and corrections. In future works, I will strengthen my studies and do [my] homework well in advance.
Apologizing to everyone once again, I’m sorry.
Fu Yaning.”
Majority of the comments under Gramerie’s post asked for them to post the apology letter on foreign social media networks as this is where the issue originated from. Netizens commented, “This is the most important. The controversy is on the foreign networks. What use is there to post it on Weibo?”, “Why didn’t the company look into this carefully before she did the song covers?”, “I think I just saw the word was translated to friend in Chinese.”
Credit: Weibo (1, 2), Yujin’s IG