BLACKPINK’s Lisa Labeled “Ungrateful” For Venting About Trainee Life

BLACKPINK member Lisa has landed herself in the middle of a heated controversy after sharing her experiences as a trainee in Korea.

The issue arose from Lisa’s recent interview appearance on The Standard Knd, a popular Thailand-based English podcast and media program.

During this candid interview, Lisa touched upon her struggles as a foreign trainee in Korea, expressing how difficult she found the language gap. The idol recalled that nobody at the company was allowed to talk to her in English, and she was being taught Korean in Korean, despite having zero understanding of the language. Despite her requests to be taught in English first, the teachers didn’t budge. Lisa recalled a particular day when she was on the verge of crying, pointing out how hard it was for a young girl to push through in such a situation.

awww lisa almost cried when studying korean 😭😭💔 pic.twitter.com/WtyW1d72Kj

— 👽 (@bvlgrlisa) October 29, 2026

This candid confession has somehow sparked a huge uproar of criticism on social media, with many interpreting Lisa’s story as her being entitled or ungrateful for the opportunities she received in Korea.

awww lisa almost cried when studying korean 😭😭💔 pic.twitter.com/WtyW1d72Kj

— 👽 (@bvlgrlisa) October 29, 2026

You are the idiotic one cause you want and went to work in a country that has their own language, you were lucky enough to get picked and complain on putting effort in learning their language? Are you dumb? And at your time kpop is not new theres like 2 generations of kpop b4 you

— KAK Q ✨ (REST) (@YBQis) October 31, 2026

읭? 본인이 한국에서 아이돌 되고 싶어서 오디션 보고 데뷔한 거 아냐?
회사에서는 태국어 써도 말이 안 통하니까 한국어 배우라고 한 거일텐데.. 외교하러 한국 온 것도 아닌데 내내 통역 붙여주길 바란 거야?
그럴 거면 태국에서 데뷔하지 그랬어…라는 생각 밖에 안 드네

— 대저짭짤이도마도 (@DJ_JJALTO) October 31, 2026

Huh? Didn’t she willingly audition and debut in Korea because she wanted to become an idol here? The agency probably told her to learn Korean because speaking Thai wouldn’t get her anywhere. It’s not like she came to Korea on a diplomatic mission. So did she really expect to have an interpreter by her side the whole time? Honestly, it just makes me think, why didn’t she just debut in Thailand instead?

— @DJ_JJALTO

I dont blame koreans for hating this ungrateful b!tch that spits on the country which made her.

— TAEVA (@Taevapie) October 31, 2026

Translated: Lisa in her Victim era after finding her alter ego. 🤣🤣
—————-
Lisa is facing criticism from Koreans after her remarks in a foreign interview about her early days in Korea, where she criticized their demands for her to speak Korean and their lack of…

— 𝟙𝟛𝕋𝕊✨️⟭⟬ARIRANG⟬⟭ ✨️㉧㉣㉣✨️BTS⁷ 💜 (@charestriart) October 31, 2026

왜 한국에서 데뷔한거지

— ໊ (@noouuuun) October 31, 2026

Why did you debut in Korea?

— @noouuuun

Fans have defended her, arguing that people were adding words to her mouth and intentionally ignoring the very next part of the interview, where she admitted that the difficult method ended up being so helpful that she is now more comfortable speaking Korean than English, which is her second language.

K-pop fans in the quotes being slow on purpose or what? Lisa is not even complaining, she’s just saying that it was difficult for a while at first, but if you watch the entire clip she literally said that the method was effective for her and it helped her a lot…

— ra ra girl³²⁷ (@lalisamgger) October 30, 2026

리사 태국에서 영어만 배우다가 14살에 한국왓고 아는말 1도 없어서 어린나이에 힘들엇지만 그렇게 배운 덕분에 한국말 잘하게 됐고 이젠 영어보다 한국어가 더 편하다했는데 영상 일부만 잘라서 욕하지 말자ㅜ pic.twitter.com/bbUtKDp9NV

— 🌟 (@STARIANA_KR) October 31, 2026

Lisa came to Korea from Thailand at the age of 14, knowing absolutely no Korean. It was a difficult experience at such a young age, but thanks to that process, she learned to speak Korean well—to the point where she now says she feels more comfortable in Korean than in English. Let’s not criticize her based on just a short, isolated clip.

— @STARIANA_KR

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