The topic of the photo she'd uploaded onto her Twitter had long been avoided, but she finally spoke up about it on the July 23 installment of SBS' 'Incarnation'. When asked about the incident, she started with, "I wondered, why did this happen? Why did I do this? First, I did upload it by mistake. And to be honest, I couldn't even blame anyone else because I was the one who uploaded it. It wasn't that I could even have a hard time because of it [because it was my fault]."
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She added, "I was so sorry to many people. Since I did it myself, I thought, who should I feel the most apologetic to? Should I be sorry to the people who loved me? Or should I be sorry to the people who loved the person I hurt (the other person in the photo)? I also thought a lot about, should I go out and apologize to everyone and clear up all the misunderstandings, or should I just stay quiet? I pushed back variety shows as much as I could because of that."
She continued, "I was so sorry. It wasn't something that made me have a hard time, being a burden on me or anything because I should just be sorry to everyone. I'm so sorry."
One of the MCs asked, "I was very curious about this. Did you eat well on the day this happened?", and IU answered, "That day, Yoo In Na came over. We're really close. She just fed me continuously. She kept making conversation on other topics, and even when I said, 'Unni, you can leave', she stayed by my side and kept feeding me. Even after that, she would go onto the radio and say, 'I want to listen to IU's song right now! This is IU's song'. I thought, 'She's so stupid', but I was so sorry and thankful. It made me realize how many people I've hurt just from one action."
MC Kim Gu Ra then asked the most important question. He said, "What did the other person [in the photo] say?". IU answered, "He asked me if I was OK. I told him, 'I don't have the rights to be not okay. I'm just so sorry to everyone for everything'."
When MC Kim Hee Sun joked, "You should have just gone to sleep early that day," she admitted, "Yeah, I should have...".
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Wow, IU is deep. The Korean culture is so different than the West. Respect and manners are a totally different thing. She felt like she didn't have the right to not be okay over something that ended up hurting others. I must admit, I've never thought like that before. Being a K-pop stan is different than being a stan of other genres, isn't it? We are also given so much insight into Korean culture, and we adopt some of habits and traits. Being a K-pop stan is a an experience. I used to be all about rock, punk, metal, skacore, etc. I don't know how I ended up in a community where the word "pop" even existed as I was so against the grain of pop music in the West. I'm so happy on this journey, but being a black K-pop stan can be troubling sometimes. We get hurt a lot (alone with other BIPOC), but we persevere. We learn how to forgive and to admit our mistakes, right? I know we can be rigid when someone we love victimizes someone innocent. We're not all that forgiving like we should be, imo. So many scandals were turned on their heads, it's crazy. We should vow to stay neutral until there is undeniable proof. Anyway, this ends my TED Talk. Spread love, not hate. Read the news for information, not a tweet. Learn to forgive without forgetting (in some cases), and take responsibility for your actions good or bad, and know it's okay to be wrong or not know something. I love all my K-pop family no matter who your bias is!