She shared an apology after.
Koreaboo
36 minutes ago
DREAMCATCHER‘s Handong has come under fire for participating in a racist trend.
DREAMCATCHER’s Handong
In early June, a trend on Chinese social media was brought to the attention of international netizens
A doll/stress toy known as Baby Natasha was shown in videos being hit, punctured in the throat, and roughly treated in a variety of ways. The controversy arose because the doll depicted was always black, even though baby Natasha was available in other skin tones.
Eventually, videos from Chinese social media, showing individuals with real black children and referring to them as baby Natasha, while treating them in various ways, were posted online, furthering the outrage.
This behavior is anti-Black, with the actions being done to the dolls representing a lack of humanization of Black children in the eyes of those “playing with them.”
[Video could not be displayed]
[Video could not be displayed]
On June 21, Handong shared a post on Instagram, including one photo showing her holding a baby Natasha doll by the head and laughing while taking a photo.
Backlash quickly followed, with many saying that they were ashamed of her actions and even considered no longer being a fan.
and i am officially done with kpop i think. or at least my restricted interest in it is like actively fading. this is disgusting. to see handong being so openly and blatantly racist just tells me that she’s been like this behind the scenes with no issues before. https://t.co/VMJlUinjhL
— elle (@clefanor) June 24, 2026
this is a reminder that this account does not tolerate racism in the slightest.
the doll that handong is holding in her last post is blatantly racist. if you want to know more about it, i’ll link a video below.
this is NOT okay and she should know better. pic.twitter.com/IPAgSDhAVu
— handong🧚🏻♀️ (@handongIove) June 23, 2026
oh I’m really disappointed https://t.co/aG4PxcFzhj
— jey 🏁🪞⚔️🧬 (@jidh_) June 24, 2026
After the backlash, Handong made a post apologizing for her actions and also deleted the image from the photo set.
Despite this, some did not believe the reasoning given in her apology, skeptical she did not know any better.
i don’t fully believe the denial of not being aware of the anti-black racism behind it, but somehow still recognizing it as a viral ‘toy’ when all the videos that went viral were basically people abusing and destroying it simply bc it was a dark skinned doll https://t.co/3w6W1iiJXT
— damis little honey jar (@damivrse) June 24, 2026
girl if you know it’s viral then you should know the reason why it’s viral please dpmo https://t.co/5bNOYdFZMC
— Naevis -77.82X-78.29 (@naevisualizer) June 24, 2026
#noticing it’s always the uneducated excuse w idols; those dolls were trending in china because of racists doing horrific things to them. thats why many people in your country love it, handong. you just didnt care https://t.co/lFJzrniXXW
— #iDeserveIt🎼 (@blessjjyu) June 24, 2026