Officials Respond To Viral Allegations That BLACKPINK’s Canceled White House Performance Due To First Lady’s Dislike Of “Young Women”

Officials have responded to viral allegations of the reasons behind BLACKPINK‘s performance at the White House being canceled.

The members of BLACKPINK

In 2023, YG Entertainment confirmed that BLACKPINK was requested to perform at the White House alongside Lady Gaga.

YG Entertainment Confirms BLACKPINK Was Requested To Perform In Front Of U.S. President Joe Biden And Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol

Recently, a video has gone viral with claims that the performance didn’t happen because First Lady Kim Keon Hee didn’t want them to perform, allegedly due to her feelings about being around “younger women.”

here, this man talks about how in 2023, before Yoon Suk-yeol’s state visit, Jill Biden suggested a Lady Gaga x BLACKPINK performance multiple times but Kim Keon-hee (First Lady of Korea) allegedly rejected it because she dislikes being around younger womenpic.twitter.com/NSdx3GPV57

— ☘︎ (@lalisasproperty) February 14, 2025

i can't believe the actual first lady of korea didn't want blackpink to perform at the white house cause "she doesn't like being around younger woman" 😭😵‍💫 that entire country is full of misogynists my god

— pinksviral 🪐 (@pinksviral) February 14, 2025

This was picked up by Korean media outlets. It was reported that in some appearances, Park Ji Won and Park Sun Won, lawmakers from the Democratic Party of Korea and former members of the National Intelligence Service, made claims that “First Lady Kim Keon Hee dislikes young women being present, so she blocked the performance” and that “Kim personally caused the event to be canceled.”

Yet, following the videos and comments going viral, the response from multiple former and current presidential office officials who were aware of the situation refuted these claims, stating, “That is not true.”

They explained that the joint performance was canceled due to cost issues and that First Lady Kim did not oppose it. A pro-Yoon lawmaker from the People’s Power Party said in a phone call on the 19th, ‘At the time, BLACKPINK had agreed to perform without a separate guarantee fee, but the costs for staff, concert preparations, and inviting Lady Gaga were too burdensome for both governments to cover.’

— The statement via JoongAng

The performance was meant to happen in 2023.

BLACKPINK