Aespa’s Karina had everyone cracking up during her acceptance speech at the Asia Star Entertainer Awards 2025 on May 28. The ceremony went down at K-Arena in Yokohama, Japan, with The Boyz’s Juyeon and IVE’s Rei as hosts.
Aespa was announced as the winner of “The Platinum” award, and as the girls hit the stage, Karina took the mic to speak.
“I’m so grateful to our fans for this meaningful award. We worked hard on our album last year, and we’ll be back with a great album this year, so please look forward to it,” she said. But then, mid-sentence, she slipped and called the group “AespO” instead of “Aespa”, and the whole room burst out laughing.
She covered her mouth and started laughing so hard, she couldn’t even finish. Winter jumped in next, but she couldn’t keep it together either. “Please give a lot of… your support to Aespa in the future,” she said through laughter. The two ended up hugging, trying to calm down, but yeah… it didn’t work. Finally, Ningning stepped up and wrapped it up like a pro: “Please love Aespa a lot in the future, and Arigato Gozaimasu (Thank you).”
Now, all this happened while Karina’s been caught up in a bit of a mess—yep, that “political color” controversy.
She recently posted a casual pic from Japan, wearing a jacket with a red number ‘2’ on it and added a rose emoji. That combo had some people thinking she was showing support for a political party. The chatter picked up quick, and Karina ended up deleting the post. Things got so loud that a People Power Party spokesperson even dropped an “Aespa shout-out” on social media.
In response, SM Entertainment stepped in to shut it down:
“Karina merely posted everyday content on social media, and there was absolutely no other purpose or intention. After realizing there might be a misunderstanding, she immediately deleted the post. We are sincerely sorry for unintentionally causing concern.”
They also said, “We will also pay more attention and make efforts to prevent such incidents from happening in the future. We hope that the artist’s intentions will no longer be distorted and consumed with specific political motives, and we will do our best to protect Karina and all our artists.”
Despite everything, Karina stayed bright and cheerful throughout the night—awkward slip and all.
