Inside the room: What it was like to be with Blackpink's Lisa as race scandal erupted

What's it like to be the main character of an online scandal?

Key points

• The scandal blew up while Lisa was rehearsing for a pivotal performance at the Coachella Festival in 2025.
• With Lisa's team in crisis mode, documentarian Sue Kim followed Lisa into her dressing room.
• Kim notes Lisa's in-the-moment reaction is "one of the most important scenes" in her documentary, Always Lalisa.
• When we meet her, she is one of the world's most famous women, with millions of record sales and brand deals with Louis Vuitton and Bvlgari.
• The incident overshadowed what was supposed to be a triumphant launch for Lisa's debut solo album, Alter Ego.

That's one of the questions raised in a new documentary regarding Lisa Manobal – one quarter of K-pop phenomenon Blackpink and a breakout star of TV show The White Lotus.

As leaked videos show Blackpink using racial slurs when they were teenage trainees in the K-pop system, the film captures an unfolding controversy.

Meanwhile, the clips, which emerged last year, indicated the band covering US rap songs during rehearsals. Explicit language, including the n-word, was left uncensored.

For context, the scandal blew up while Lisa was rehearsing for a pivotal performance at the Coachella Festival in 2025.

Offended and upset, some fans demanded an apology – but the band's record label, forbade the members from issuing a statement.

"I remarked, 'Look, I know this is new. I know you guys are wildly confused and hurt, but this is your time to say whatever you want to say – even if you're just processing your thoughts and telling us what you're feeling, " Kim tells the BBC. The film-maker "honestly expected her to say no".

Instead, Lisa lay down on a sofa and spoke from the heart.

"It's bad, " the singer notes in the documentary, with a mixture of shame and nerves.

Lisa explains she was "15 or 16" when the videos were shot and "didn't know that was sensitive because I'm from Thailand and my first language is not English".

Having only heard the term in rap music, she was unaware of its offensive history.

Now I would never ever do that because, now, I've got education, she notes. Now I know better. But I did wrong.

It is a vulnerable and human response – and nothing like the scripted PR apology you might expect. Although some individuals remained unconvinced, external), (Lisa has since apologised publicly, external in an interview with Variety.

Kim notes Lisa's in-the-moment reaction is "one of the most important scenes" in her documentary, Always Lalisa. It hits cinemas on Monday, 12 October.

"There was no premeditation on Lisa's part, there was no media training, " she adds.

I asked her one question and she just talked for an hour, and everything came out, and it's all stream of consciousness.

"And what you see with Lisa in that moment is so genuine, it's impossible not to feel compassion for her."

In practice, the incident overshadowed what was supposed to be a triumphant launch for Lisa's debut solo album, Alter Ego.

In the film, the singer receives death threats, but presses ahead with public appearances while safety reservations are "spinning in my head".

"To a certain extent I have to take and compromise, " she notes, exhausted, "but sometimes, it's too much".

In a world of sanitised celebrity profiles, Kim's portrayal of upheaval and discomfort is unusual. She asks Lisa regarding bad reviews, and captures the star being scolded by her vocal coach for lack of effort.

That remarked, the documentary was commissioned by the film division of the star's record label (which additionally created the recent, and much less revealing, Oasis documentary), so it is still ultimately a marketing product.

Even the most abrasive moments are calibrated to present Lisa in a good light – but the director credits the star with ensuring the film was not a mere puff piece.

"You never know when you meet an artist how transparent they'll be. And I have to offer all credit to Lisa as she allowed us almost total access, " Kim notes.

"And when I indicated her the film, she never asked me to remove a single scene. That's exceptional."

For context, the film's main storyline is regarding Lisa taking a break from K-pop to pursue crossover success in the Western music market.

But she is trapped by a K-pop system that forbids her from drinking alcohol and having adult relationships.

"I don't want my dating to be the thing to hurt Blackpink's popularity, " she notes in the film. "But when I turned 25, I realised that this is not how you're supposed to live your life."

Consequently, Lisa makes an early decision to cut ties with Korean entertainment firm YG. This person discovered her as a teenager, and signs a new agreement with RCA Records in the US.

"Knowing her as I do, that took an immense amount of courage, " notes Kim.

In general, she is a particularly kind, sweet person – and sometimes personalities like that, they don't want to rock the boat.

"Having been trained in the K-pop system from an early age, she grew acclimatised to obedience. Declaring that she wants a break is such a disruption to that way of life that I can only imagine it must have been building inside her for years."

In practice, the potential rewards for going solo were phenomenal – but so were the risks.

In the film, we see Lisa struggling to assert herself in the recording studio, and tearfully battling nerves over her singing voice.

At the age of 25, she is still curiously child-like. The fierce independence of her solo single New Woman sounds more like aspiration than fact. Kim notes that began to change as they filmed.

"I saw a person who was particularly tentative and unsure of herself gradually starting to unfold her wings. Making mistakes, but additionally getting back up on the horse."

Kim locates an inner confidence in early home videos of Lisa competing in talent demonstrates, drawing parallels between that precocious seven-year-old and the young woman who is gradually reclaiming her agency.

She doggedly pursues a role in the third season of hit TV drama The White Lotus, self-taping an audition that wins her the role of kind-hearted wellness coach Mook Sornsin.

For now, inside the room: What it was like to be with Blackpink' s Lisa remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.