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Is ENHYPEN's Heeseung racist? Fans say singer didn't sing the N-word

ENHYPEN fans call on their agency Belift Lab to protect the band and take legal action against those claiming their members are racist

South Korean boy band ENHYPEN's member Heeseung has found himself in the midst of racist accusations. Several people on the Internet have claimed that he sang the N-word and are calling him out for using the racist term. Fans of the band are rallying behind him and ENHYPEN claiming it has to be a misunderstanding. They've also called upon Belift Lab - the media company that launched ENHYPEN and continues to manage their work - to issue a statement clarifying the same. Belift has not issued any statement yet at the time of writing this article. 

The band's fans called ENGENES are tweeting in their favor and #ProtectENHYPEN has been trending on Twitter. "We won't stop until you make a move @BELIFTLAB, you only have one artist pls protect them at all cost, this issue wouldn't stop if you keep being silent pls make legal action about this or at least HEAR US OUT!!!! #PROTECTENHYPEN" one of the many tweets read. Let's take a look at what sparked this movement. Last week the band had sparked controversy after fans believed the rest of the bandmates had fat-shamed Sunoo. 

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Is ENHYPEN's Heeseung racist?

This entire discussion about whether Heeseung said the N-word started over a video featuring him and Jungwon. A song by SZA titled 'Love Galore' was playing in the background and there are claims that Heeseung allegedly sang the N-word. He wasn't seen mouthing the words but some fans claim they clearly heard it. "Heeseung from ENHYPEN sang the n-word and instead of calling him out, ENGENES are trending #protect en-. they aren't holding him accountable," tweeted a user.

"Please hold Heeseung accountable for his actions -an apology and acknowledgment that he sang the n-word even knowing its implications would be greatly appreciated," tweeted another. "No no I mean Heeseung said the n-word while singing to a SZA song but the guy in the back was singing a different song and happened to say 널 사랑해 right after. I don't buy shit from "Korean fans" always defending anything they do but that was a different song for sure," tweeted another. Click on the video below and skip to the 10:52 mark where many fans claim the N-word was spoken which sparked the whole controversy. 

Fans say 'Heeseung didn't say N-word'

"As someone who is black, from the clip i can’t hear nor did it sound like Heeseung (?) said the n-word. and pls if you aren’t black you can’t speak on this topic also hold them accountable for what ?? Not saying the n-word? #PROTECTENHYPEN" stated a tweet. "In the song, SZA did say the n-word but Heeseung didn’t in the clip you can hear skerrt skerrt on that than a pause and Jungwon I think is singing in Korean that is what happened he didn’t even get to the n-word part so why would he say it," wrote another fan defending the boy bander. "I really don't think they said the n-word it sounds like a Korean word and to me when I listened to it it sounded like Heeseung stopped at the skrt skrt and then did the na na na part but not the “n-word” part," tweeted another supporter.