aespa's Karina clarifies the long-standing controversy surrounding the pre-debut viral marketing strategy on 'TheKStarNextDoor 3'

aespa's Karina recently spoke up about the pre-debut viral marketing controversy she was embroiled in.

Aespa recently appeared on the recent episode of 'TheKStarNextDoor 3' and talked about various topics. On this day, MC Jonathan covered the topic of the various "controversies" each member was embroiled in.

He began by saying to Karina, "There was a viral marketing controversy even before your debut," and talked about online community posts about the idol.

In the post created in 2020, a netizen claiming to be Karina's uncle posted that his niece was debuting with aespa and releasing the track "BLACK MAMBA." The poster wrote, "My niece will debut. My niece will debut on 'Magic Bank [sic] (Music Bank).' Her name is Karina from aespa."

This post went viral at the time and garnered much attention. 

On this day, Karina explained that she was embarrassed and never even met the person who claimed to be her uncle.

Karina explained, "I actually asked my dad and he (the poster) is actually a relative I don't know," and added, "I want to meet him once."

Meanwhile, aespa made a comeback earlier this month with "Spicy," and the girls have been promoting their new music diligently in the music industry.