TWICE’s Chaeyoung Wears T-Shirt With Swastika, Apologizes Following Backlash

TWICE member Chaeyoung penned an apology on Instagram following her since-deleted post, in which she wore a t-shirt with the swastika.

On Tuesday, the 23-year-old main rapper of the K-pop group posted a photo of her donning a graphic tee that featured a design of the English punk rock band Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious with the controversial Nazi symbol — an emblem used to signify the German Nazi party led by late dictator Adolf Hitler, according to Billboard.

Social media users and fans quickly called out Chaeyoung after noticing it wasn’t the first time the artist wore a controversial outfit.

During the promotion of TWICE’s comeback single, “Set Me Free,” where the group performed on an episode of MBC K-pop’s “Music Core” over the weekend, Chaeyoung was spotted wearing a T-shirt with a QAnon slogan.

The t-shirt had a large Q on the front with the U.S. flag pattern and the phrase “we go all” at the bottom, BuzzFeed News reported. QAnon is a political conspiracy theory led by former president Donald Trump‘s supporters, claiming that he was the only person who could stop the alleged cabal of pedophiles and Satan worshippers who took reigns over America.

It is unclear if she chose the outfits or if a stylist made her wear them.

Anti-semetism in kpop is way too overlooked. Chaeyoung wearing a q-anon AND a nazi shirt two days in a row, BOTH BEING ANTI SEMETIC, STOP hiding this and mind you these her OWN clothes pic.twitter.com/YMYcUFgTiT

— nar (@nrknation) March 21, 2023

‘punk activist band shirt’ or whatever the hell you’re all saying is NO EXCUSE. It is a well-known HATE SYMBOL and to see her so casually walking around in it is extremely disheartening.”

TWICE’s agency, JYP Entertainment, has since released a statement regarding the incident Wednesday, apologizing for not “correctly recognizing” the meaning behind the swastika shirt and for not “reviewing” it.” They also added that they will pay “absolute attention” in the future.

Chaeyoung issued her apology via her personal Instagram account following the huge backlash from social media users.

“Hello, this is Chaeyoung from TWICE. I sincerely apologize regarding the Instagram post. I didn’t correctly recognize the meaning of the tilted swastika in the t-shirt I wore,” read the statement, written in both English and Korean.

She continued, “I deeply apologize for not thoroughly reviewing it, causing concern. I will pay absolute attention in the future to prevent any situation similar from happening again. Sincerely apologize again.”

TWICE, consisting of members Momo, Nayeon, Tzuyu, Mina, Jihyo, Sana, Jeongyeon, Dahyun and Chaeyoung, released their 12th mini album, titled “Ready To Be,” earlier this month. It has since debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 music chart and made history by earning the biggest first-week album sales by a K-pop female act on the chart.