The hot rookie group has landed themselves in hot water after member Soeun said the N-Word in a cover of Beyonce’s song Irreplaceable.

Black Kpop fans were rightfully offended by the singer’s cover because this is not the first time an idol has said or sung the N-Word.

I actually liked the new gg tribe… but one of the members said the n word… pic.twitter.com/Gd777zsUhz

— ✪ chris⁷?☼ || bucky love bot (@acklesjoon) March 7, 2021

Soon after the public outrage TR Entertainment issued an apology regarding the matter.

Their statement reads…

TR Entertainment wants to express our sincerest apologies to TRI.BE fans in reference to the inappropriate word when TRIBE member Soeun sang Beyonce’s song ‘Irreplaceable’ on the ‘KBS Worrld Entrevista en espanol a TRI.BE’ YouTube program. We genuinely feel very sorry that we didn’t check the lyrics before she sang the song. Soeun only practiced the lyrics on the Korean music platform and she didn’t know what it meant. We deeply realized our actions and words made everyone feel uncomfortable. We promise that we will be very careful on TRI.BE’s official activities.

-TR Entertainment

So um, yeah. Starting now, all non-black celebrities out there, as well as normal everyday people of course, should censor themselves when they come across a explicit song that contains that problematic racial slur. And that ESPECIALLY goes for K-Pop artists in this case.

— Cameron Franklin (@CameronF2018) March 8, 2021

Authors note:

Ugh, I really wish this hadn’t happened; what people don’t get about this situation. Is that it’s a bigger deal than you think, especially for POC. This one incident will follow TRI.BE for the rest of their career and put Black fans that like this group in an awkward position. They have to choose to either like them publicly and risk being ostracized by the community, listen to them in secret, or cancel them. However, this was a small mistake that I do think some will forgive

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