Variety Magazine Accuses BLACKPINK Of Lip-Syncing During Their Performance At The 2022 VMAs, And Korean Netizens Are Not Having Any Of It

BLACKPINK recently made history at the 2022 MTV VMAs.

BLACKPINK | @variety/Twitter

The group took home the award for “Best Metaverse Performance,” and Lisa took home the award for “Best K-Pop.”

BLACKPINK |

The group also shut the internet down with their live performance of their pre-single “Pink Venom.” The group’s performance was trending on social media for their tremendous vocal skills.

THEIR VOCALS pic.twitter.com/Cr81oN659s

— chaesoo pics (@jpgchaesoo) August 29, 2022

so proud of jennie she served face and body in the red carpet. assisted her members when they needed help and support. she aced her live rap, vocals, and dance in the performance~ down to her spiel & speech. even as an audience member she made noise so happy that shes happy pic.twitter.com/QPcpQLubia

— gi | mandu (@jennieaceitgirl) August 29, 2022

It seems, however, that Stateside media outlet Variety wasn’t impressed.

On August 28, an article from the magazine listed the best and worst moments of the award show. Among the worst moments, the article alleged BLACKPINK of lip-syncing and deemed it as one of the worst moments of the night.

…The most conspicuous blunder was the obvious lip-syncing. Among the repeat offenders are artists like Blackpink, Anitta, and Flo Milli — who devoted attention to their killer dance routines but left little room for the actual singing.

— Variety

The article has since gone viral in Korea, with many netizens defending the group.

• “They did sing live. WTF, lol.”
• “Anybody can tell it was sung live, LOL. They (Variety) praised everybody but them.”
• “Billboard said it was the second best stage after Nicki Minaj.”
• “How can they say it was lip-syncing when you could hear the smoke machine and their outfit brushing up on the mic? A lot of people perform over an AR track, and the fact their vocals still stand out shows how great they are.”
• “What did they stick up their ears to think that wasn’t live?”
• “Variety and the New York Post are famous for hating on K-Pop. The New York Post also gave bad reviews to BTS’s performances. It isn’t about BLACKPINK. They just don’t like K-Pop, period. It doesn’t matter as Billboard ranked their performance second.”

What are your thoughts? Check out the performance below and be the judge for yourself.