HYBE Faces Criticism For Whitewashing BTS’s V And IU

The internet is still abuzz about IU‘s latest single, “Love Wins All,” and the cinematic music video co-starring BTS‘s V, which was released on January 24, 2024.

IU (left) and BTS’s V (right) | EDAM Entertainment

Although the BTS member is currently in the midst of his mandatory military service, he was able to prefilm content, providing fans with behind-the-scenes material and exclusive new photos for ARMYs to enjoy while he’s away.

Recently released “‘Love Wins All’ MV Photo Sketch” | Weverse

Soloist IU has also been sharing behind-the-scenes content from her “Love Wins All” MV filming, unveiling three exclusive unedited photos of herself with V from the music video set.

| @dlwlrma/Instagram | @dlwlrma/Instagram

On January 27, BIGHIT MUSIC released 12 additional behind-the-scenes photos on Weverse, which immediately caught netizens’ attention in comparison to the pictures IU provided on her Instagram.

BTS’s V in a recently released behind-the-scenes photo | Weverse

Netizens noticed the stark difference between the unedited photos IU uploaded and the edited photos uploaded to BTS’s Weverse, the latter of which showed the two artists with noticeably lightened skin.

Photo uploaded by BIGHIT MUSIC | Weverse Photo uploaded by IU | @dlwlrma/Instagram

This isn’t the first time BIGHIT MUSIC and parent company HYBE have come under fire for excessively lightening or whitewashing their artists’ skin tone in photos.

Tweets showing a side-by-side comparison of the edited Weverse picture and IU’s self-uploaded picture have fans criticizing HYBE for their excessive editing.

from: HYBE from: IU IG pic.twitter.com/9K0PsmJyt8

— bts memeories⁷ (@btsmemeories) January 27, 2024

the difference in colors..i literally can’t stand bighit and their horrible editors pic.twitter.com/9QMLFwyxh7

— ⁷ (@yoongipd) January 27, 2024

Nothing is temporary bt whitewashing pics by hybe is permanent will the hybe editors ever understand dat their natural skin is beautiful n they don’t need editing

— Nupur (@DrNupurrk) January 27, 2024

Netizens are calling for a change, expressing their disappointment with HYBE’s continued overediting and whitewashing of their artists’ skin tones.

We were robbed of BTS’ real golden and borwnish skin tone because of Hybe’s obsession with whitewashing for a long time, but come on its enough now, let the skin look like the skin and not some white board

— Nayab⁷ (@jmnayas) January 27, 2024

aren’t your tired of whitewashing his honey skin?

— ⁷ (@yoongipd) January 27, 2024

petition to stop whitewashing anyone like pls

— dami⁷ (@pjm_kg) January 27, 2024

HYBE’s editors have come under fire multiple times for whitewashing photos of the BTS members, leaving fans to re-edit the images to depict the BTS members’ natural skin tones themselves.

Check out more on that in the article below:

ARMYs Criticize HYBE For Excessive Whitewashing Of The BTS Members When Promoting Their Upcoming Book