Korean boy band EXO will be returning with a new album titled "The War" with teaser photos of the members being released on a daily basis.
The first photo released was Kai sporting dreadlocks to set the tone for EXO's title song "Ko Ko Bop," which is described as a reggae pop.
While many fans are excited about the release of the photo, others are concerned that the dreadlocks represent Kai's cultural appropriation.
Fordham University law professor Susan Scafidi, author of the book "Who Owns Culture?: Appropriation and Authenticity in American Law," told Jezebel.com that cultural appropriation is "taking intellectual property, traditional knowledge, cultural expressions, or artifacts from someone else's culture without permission."
She added, "This can include unauthorized use of another culture's dance, dress, music, language, folklore, cuisine, traditional medicine, religious symbols, etc. It's most likely to be harmful when the source community is a minority group that has been oppressed or exploited in other ways or when the object of appropriation is particularly sensitive, e.g. sacred objects."
In Kai's case, some fans commented on EXO's Twitter account that Kai's dreadlocks should go and he should not wear it when EXO starts promoting on TV.
"The dreads gotta go," one fan commented while another said, "This is cultural appropriation. Delete." Many are defending Kai, saying the dreadlocks are not an issue
This is the not first time that Kai sported dreadlocks. He wore it for the music video of EXO's song "Wolf."
In June, GOT7 member Jackson received hateful comments after he sported dreadlocks for a Pepsi ad in China, accusing him of cultural appropriation.
On his Instagram account, Jackson defended this by saying, "I don't think I'm the only one doing this and if people are gonna point fingers at this, so be it...haters gon hate. I have all my respect and love for all RACE. But if you think this whole thing is disrespecting or mock a race, I'm really sorry but you are on the wrong page."
