LISA Reflects on Controversy Over Leaked Videos of BLACKPINK Members Rapping N-Word: ‘I Really Have to Apologize’

One of the most revealing portions of LISA‘s new documentary showed how she dealt in real time with the controversy over BLACKPINK using the N-word in pre-debut videos that were leaked last year. And in an interview with Variety published Monday (Sept. 14) following the doc’s premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, the K-pop star looked back on that fallout with more perspective.

“I really have to apologize,” she began. “To be honest, I’m Thai and I grew up in Thailand. There isn’t any education for that, so at the time, I didn’t know.”

The videos in question were more than a decade old and showed the future BLACKPINK members — who were likely teenagers at the time — practicing their rap skills by covering other artists’ songs featuring the racial slur in the lyrics. As LISA was preparing for her first-ever solo Coachella set in spring 2025, the previously unseen clips surfaced online.

“Now I’ve learned and got educated about that, and I would never [do it again],” LISA told the publication of her previous use of the N-word, the offensive history of which she says she hadn’t known at the time. “This is not OK. Seriously.”

As for dealing with the controversy — which her label prohibited her from addressing, according to the documentary — the White Lotus alum said, “I was just sad because I really wanted to focus on my performance, but things happened and you can’t control stuff. But I fought through it.”

Always Lalisa premiered on Friday (Sept. 11) at TIFF, giving BLINKs a personal look at how the superstar navigated her year away from BLACKPINK while focusing on solo projects. She also reflects on the challenges of being in one of the world’s biggest K-pop bands, including having to hide her romantic relationships in order to maintain her commercial appeal.

The film will head to theaters and IMAX on Oct. 12 before coming to YouTube Premium later this year.

And while LISA, ROSÉ, JISOO and JENNIE are back in a period of solo work, LISA told Variety that BLACKPINK will never be gone for good. “If I’m 50, I still want to do BLACKPINK!” she said. “We just finished our tour earlier this year, but we talk a lot about this and have discussions about doing a little break — like I did almost two years ago — but we’re always going to be together. We just finished the BLACKPINK tour, so now we’re back to our solo eras again.”