Danielle from NewJeans apologized for calling the lunar New Year “Chinese New Year.”
On January 19, Danielle sent her fans a message on the Phoning fan communication platform, in which she asked: “What are you bunnies [NewJeans fans] doing for Chinese New Year?”
Danielle was soon criticized for using the phrase “Chinese New Year”, as Lunar New Year is a holiday celebrated in many Asian countries, not just in China. (Due to their limited knowledge of Asian culture, some Western countries refer to this holiday as “Chinese New Year”, although it is not exclusively Chinese, which may offend non-Chinese Asians who celebrate this holiday.)
Although Danielle was born in Australia, fans noted that Hanni, who was also born and raised in Australia, called this holiday a “Lunar New Year” in her phone messages.
On January 21 , Danielle posted the following apologies on Instagram:
Hello, this is Danielle from NewJeans.
On Thursday, January 19, I sent a message to my phone saying: “What are you doing for Chinese New Year, bunnies?” Although I deleted it as soon as I realized my mistake, my message had already been delivered to many people, and it became impossible to cancel it.
Since the Lunar New Year is a holiday celebrated in many countries and regions, including in our country [Korea], my choice of words was inappropriate and I deeply regret it. I also want to say that I sincerely feel sorry for the Rabbits and many other people who must have been disappointed or hurt by my words.
I will not forget this incident and will try to be more careful in my words and actions in the future.
I apologize again.
