KINGDOM's agency to scrap 70,000 album copies as cover design upsets netizens over Quran resemblance

K-pop boy group KINGDOM released the preview design of their upcoming album History Of Kingdom: Part VII. Jahan. The design of the album hurt the sentiments of many fans and netizens. They took to social media to express their disappointment in the agency's choice of design. This was because KINGDOM's album's design was uncannily similar to the Quran, the sacred script of Islam. This led to GF Entertainment issuing a formal apology. 

GF Entertainment's statement

"Hello, this is GF Entertainment.  We've recently received feedback concerning the cover of KINGDOM's 7th mini album, which was originally scheduled for pre-order on September 21. It has been pointed out that the design bears a resemblance to the Islamic scripture. KINGDOM is a group that strives to depict the richness of world cultures through K-pop, with a strong commitment to promoting cultural diversity and coexistence. We deeply regret that this controversy has arisen due to our lack of awareness and oversight, and we acknowledge our shortcomings in this issue. We offer our sincere apologies to the Muslim community and anyone else who may have been discomforted by this situation.

We humbly express our apology and would like to take this as an opportunity to promise you that we are dedicated to taking action to prevent similar events in the future. In light of this, we have made the decision to cancel and discard all 70,000 copies of the initial album edition and come up with a reissue. Pre-orders for KINGDOM's new album will begin again at 11 AM on September 26, and the official release of the album is set to be on October 18. We extend our heartfelt apologies to the dedicated fans who love KINGDOM for any inconvenience this may have caused."

Netizens react

The Quran is a sacred book for Muslims and looking at the album designs many fans of the 4th generation boy group as well as the netizens were upset. They started to reach out to the agency GF Entertainment about this issue. While expressing their disappointment, many demand the agency to formally address and stop the release of albums with the same design. 

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