The beginning of Mark Lee’s post-NCT era has an almost cinematic quality. The 27-year-old Canadian-born rapper officially parted ways with NCT 127 and NCT DREAM in April 2025 after ten years with SM Entertainment—ten years of international tours, sold-out arenas, and the kind of fan devotion that K-pop generates like almost nothing else. He started Upper Room, a one-person label, by June. For an instant, it seemed like a clean break. A fresh chapter that he wrote on his own terms.
The shirt followed. Photos of Mark wearing a T-shirt with a Confederate flag prominently displayed across the front started making the rounds online on June 23. The response wasn’t nuanced, and the pictures quickly gained popularity. Upper Room issued a long apology on its official Instagram Stories within hours. It was written in English, addressed to a worldwide audience, and carried the weight of a label that had only been around for two weeks.
The Confederate flag is not a mysterious emblem. The banner of the Confederacy, an alliance of southern states that broke away in 1861 to uphold the institution of slavery, has a particular and painful history in the United States. That background is widely recognized, especially in North America, thanks to decades of civil rights activism, museum discussions, and the public removal of Confederate monuments. Canada is where Mark was born and reared. He lived in the US for many years. This geography is important because it makes it more difficult for many observers to take the “we didn’t know” explanation at face value.
According to Upper Room’s statement, the shirt was picked because it was vintage. The organization admitted that steps had been taken to prevent it from appearing in official content and that the historical significance was discovered after the fact. These actions obviously failed. “Despite these efforts, the image was shared externally,” the statement said, adding that the label accepts full responsibility and vehemently opposes racism in any form.
The fact that this is not the first time a K-pop star has gotten involved in this particular controversy makes the situation especially awkward. Lucas, a former NCT member, faced harsh criticism in 2021 for donning a top with a Confederate flag-like design. Within Mark’s own former group, there is a documented precedent. Although it’s difficult to pinpoint specific internal discussions that have taken place since then, the parallel is hard to overlook.
As this develops, there’s a feeling that the controversy goes beyond a simple clothing error. Although Mark’s contract simply expired and his departure from SM Entertainment was reportedly amicable, the shift from major-agency artist to solo operator comes with a significant change in oversight. Despite their rigidity, large entertainment companies still maintain layers of review. PR teams, managers, stylists, and content approvers. As a one-person operation, Upper Room is still developing that infrastructure. The Confederate flag incident indicates that there were actual, costly gaps.
Fans’ responses to the “vintage” explanation varied from sincere disappointment to outright skepticism. Some noted that rather than appearing as a barely perceptible print on a distressed secondhand find, the flag was prominently displayed front and center. Others questioned whether identifying symbols of this significance should be part of the cultural awareness expected of a public figure, particularly one who has spent the majority of his life in North America. It’s a legitimate question that wasn’t entirely resolved by the apology.
The directness of Upper Room’s accountability was what it did well, at least in tone. There was no hedging or diversion into legalese in the statement. It identified the issue, accepted accountability, and provided specific solutions, such as improved internal review procedures for future content approval and clothing selection. Soon enough, it will be clear if those promises are fulfilled.
For the time being, Mark Lee’s independent career has begun on shaky ground. A formal apology, the kind that travels across continents and trends on timelines in multiple languages, began a debut that was meant to symbolize creative freedom. It is rarely easy to return to goodwill. Whether this becomes a footnote or something more defining in the narrative he’s attempting to tell himself is still up for debate.
