Blackswan Fatou Reacts To “Bully” Leia, Says ‘Shouldn’t Have Stooped As Low As Her’

Blackswan is a new girl group from Korea that debuted in October 2020. Rania, the second-generation girl group; rebranded as Blackswan after many of the original members left. They were known for being one of the most inclusive ensembles; with members from all over the world.

Alexandra, one of its members, was the first K-pop idol of African descent. While K-pop musicians come from all over the world, they are predominantly Asian. Fatou, the current member of Blackswan, is a Senegalese artist; who is one of the few Black artists in South Korea. She has, however, received racist and hate letters as a result of claims that she bullied Leia.

Last week, Leia’s Brazilian-Japanese fans claimed that they had received messages from the idol’s family claiming that Fatou was bullying her. They posted screenshots of apparently private messages between them and Leia’s relatives. Some admirers first refused to believe the words, claiming that they were not written by a native Portuguese speaker.

However, since then, certain fans and trolls have been sending Fatou a barrage of hate messages on social media, along with racist slurs, forcing her to address the problem. Fatou indirectly denied bullying Leia in a lengthy Twitter statement. She claimed that she and Leia had a verbal spat and that she had accused her of being manipulative.

The idol stated that Leia was egotistical, that she gaslit other members; that she simply lied, that she would victimize herself; and that she would try to manipulate everyone. She brought up other instances, such as when Leia treated Fatou’s family with disdain; since Fatou was able to meet her family while Leia was unable to. When she was denied access to Fatou’s personalized promotional selfies, she claimed Fatou despised her.

“I said a lot of harsh things which I regret doing so because I never should’ve stooped as low as her.”

Fatou also alleged that Leia had told a friend that she was going to ruin Blackswan and that she didn’t want to be a part of it. She also stated that Leia lied about her health; claiming to have a slipped disc and taking pills for her mental health; because of the company and Fatou, but that the causes were obviously related to her time in Brazil.

The last straw, according to Fatou, was Leia’s disdain for her family; which prompted her to erupt on October 25. “[Leia] kept denying everything over and over again, changing her words over and over again,” Fatou explained. “I said a lot of harsh things which I regret doing so because I never should’ve stooped as low as her.”

Fatou went on to say that Leia was being unfair by throwing her and Blackswan under the bus because they had been looking after her and assisting her with her practice. She also mentioned that Leia’s apologies were phoney; because she would only apologize when she had to and then go back to doing the same thing.

In a now-deleted tweet, Leia, on the other hand, stated that she would tell everything; but that she did not agree with the bigotry directed towards Fatou. Fans, on the other hand, have spotted her enjoying posts about Fatou being a bully.

Fans Divided Over Fatou And Leia’s Reactions

The reactions of Fatou and Leia have divided fans. Some say they’ll wait for Leia’s story; while others say they didn’t wait when haters sent Fatou hate mail in response to a fanbase’s accusations. Some believe that all of these instances should have been kept private; and that the firm should have handled the situation in a private manner. Others support Fatou, claiming that she has no incentive to lie; because she is well aware of how vulnerable her position in the profession is due to her race. Meanwhile, some fans continue to support Leia.

Fatou has been trending since her message on November 14. A user explained, “This is like what happened to T-ara and AOA incident. We should be neutral on this. Let’s wait both parties’ statement”. One fan said, “Dont even try to that ‘ima just stay neutral’ shit cuz you only wanted to be neutral UNTIL fatou came out with her side. smd disrespectfully, now yall talking bout ‘why yall believe fatou so fast and not leia’ LEIA HASNT SAID SHIT YET and yall was begging for fatou to say sum wtf.”

Another person said they must improve themselves, but do it in a professional manner; it is natural to fight and learn from one’s mistakes. One user shared, “Im not gonna believe this #blackswan situation because why would fatou a darkskin black woman in a homogeneous country in Korea in an antiblack genre like kpop would jeopardize her whole career to bully leia mind you they’re very close it seems like fabrication.”