Health Ministry debunks reports saying Malaysian govt labelled Blackpink Rosé’s ‘APT.’ morally harmful, says no link to ‘Public Health Malaysia’ account

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 29 — The Ministry of Health (MoH) Malaysia clarified today that statements attributed to them regarding Blackpink Rosé and Bruno Mars’ song APT. were not issued by the government.

In a post on social media platform X, MoH emphasised that an unaffiliated entity had made the statements after several K-pop-related entertainment sites, including Allkpop, Kyunghyan, Koreaboo and Pinkvilla, reported that the Malaysian government had issued a statement against the song.

“The Ministry of Health (MoH) Malaysia wishes to clarify that any statements regarding this article attributed to MoH have not been issued or authorised by the Government of Malaysia,” the statement read.

The post continued, “We would like to highlight that the posting was made by an entity which is not linked to the Ministry in any form whatsoever.”

The Ministry urged the public to remain cautious of unverified information on social media, as it may lead to confusion.

They also encouraged people to rely on official MoH channels for accurate information on public health matters.

The statement was linked to an article by Koreaboo, among others, that reported MoH had criticised Rosé and Bruno Mars’ song APT. for conflicting with “Eastern cultural values.”

The article suggested that the Ministry found the song potentially “harmful” due to its portrayal of an “apartment” as a site of temptation, raising concerns about its influence on young listeners.

The original criticism had come from Facebook account Public Health Malaysia, an activist social media account that is unrelated to the government, but is often mistaken to be one due to its name.

In the wake of these unverified claims, MoH reiterated the importance of referencing only authorised sources for reliable updates.

The music video for the song has attracted 189 million views to date, marking it the biggest male-female duet debut of 2024.

In related news, Rosé and Bruno Mars’ APT. debuted at No. 1 on both the Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. US charts, according to Billboard.

This marks Rosé’s second No. 1 as a soloist on each chart, following her earlier hit On the Ground, which also led in its debut week in March 2021.

As a group, Blackpink has achieved two leaders on the Global 200 and three on Global Excl. US charts, with Rosé being the first member of the quartet to have multiple No. 1s.

Mars, on the other hand, has dethroned his previous No. 1, Die With a Smile, featuring Lady Gaga, which has slipped to No. 2 on both charts.

He becomes the first act to replace himself at No. 1 and hold the top two spots simultaneously on each list since Sabrina Carpenter achieved the feat earlier this year with Espresso and Please Please Please.