South Korean singer Lee Sunmi, popularly known as Sunmi, received backlash on Twitter after a TikTok video of her dancing to popular Punjabi track 'Tunak Tunak Tun' went viral on the internet. In the video, Sun Mi and her background dancers were seen dancing to Daler Mehndi's 1998 song.
Several netizens took to the micro-blogging site to slam the singer for 'mocking' the Indian culture by copying the hand gestures and head movements of the classical dance. However, after severe receiving flak, Sunmi apologized for the video and took it down.
She wrote in a tweet, "There is no reason or intention for me to mock the culture of other countries. It's because of my ignorance of the culture. I apologize for being ignorant about the culture of other countries. And I'd like to say that I am truly sorry to those who have been hurt by my ignorance."
Reacting to the apology, a user wrote, "Sunmi took less than a day to apologize where as most k pop idols who've been doing it for so long haven't yuta being one of them, because think for yourself they deleted the vlive that means they are fully aware yet they stay silent.
Another user commented, "Can someone tell me how was Sunmi mocking the desi culture? I mean, how else are you supposed to dance to tunuk tunuk?"
"Sunmi is such an amazing person and showed again how close she is to her fans and that she notices us and our concerns. she not only apologized quickly but also took down the video. it's not my place to accept it but i still wish other idols could learn from her," read a comment.
Here's the TikTok video, which faced backlash:
