Foreign fans have recently accused Koreans of whitewashing NMIXX‘s Sullyoon once again. The group performed at Brazil’s Carnival, Sao Paulo, being the first K-Pop act there. Fans were shocked to see the girls dressed more freely, in water festival-ready fits.
Lily at the festival.
But more shocking than their outfits was their alleged difference in skin tone. Fans compared photos of visual member Sullyoon in Korea and in Brazil.
South Korea Brazil pic.twitter.com/q8iAMKlXOU
— luk (@jungsluk) February 16, 2026
Fans noticed that Sullyoon looked visibly tanner in the photos taken in Brazil. They immediately jumped to whitewashing conclusions.
Some even brought in the entire population, claiming that Koreans wanted to be white.
Koreans swear to God they’re white, I can’t 😭😭 https://t.co/ea7ZDjhfG9 pic.twitter.com/SiEKbzVxGY
— ★彡jungeun Legalized™ (@jungeunmeow) February 17, 2026
Koreans immediately hit back, arguing that lighting causes a huge difference. Lights on stage are famous for being intensely harsh and cool-toned, making everyone look brighter. Koreans brought up examples of celebrities with vastly different-toned legs under flash and in the shadow.
혹시 외국에는 조명이라는 개념이 없나요? https://t.co/nVeCOs1FIr pic.twitter.com/NWMieRBiNB
— 난감하다 (@f71418) February 17, 2026
Natural sunlight also tends to render everyone more golden.
Its just stage light vs natural lightening korea use a lot of flashlights in stage to blur out the pore and things in skin.. it sometimes wash out idols of bright skin and tanned skin so some of them tone up/down make up to fit in to the range of 19-23 foundation. https://t.co/BynITwdzz6
— 늑🐻🏳️🌈 (@c0zyp1ace) February 19, 2026
This is not the first time that the nation has been accused of whitewashing idols. Read more about the longstanding accusations below.
Top Hollywood Actress Becomes A Shocking Victim Of Whitewashing By Korean Media