Entertainment company HYBE's trainee, rapper Leo, and Trainee A production team have both formally apologized for the recent controversy regarding the singer's rap lyrics.

Leo, who appeared for a brief time on the "Permission to Dance" video for BTS, and is best known for it, is one of the trainees in the management company's Trainee A group. It comprises six trainees, who many are speculating will be the new boy group that Big Hit Music is planning to launch in 2022.

Incidentally, HYBE Labels/Big Hit Music is mega-group BTS's talent and entertainment management agency.

Leo recently irked anger among viewers and netizens and came under fire for posting a video to Trainee A's official YouTube account "Showdown", where he took part in a rap battle.

Leo, who is from Australia, is a 19-year-old trainee who personally penned his own English lyrics for the battle. He faced heavy criticism for the lyrics as they were deemed horrible, offensive to women, and misogynistic with swear words targeting women, such as B****, H**, and F***.

Trainee A production team has now deleted the video in question and also put up a post on their official YouTube channel in English, apologizing to everyone.

The official apology stated that the team would like to express their deepest apologies for Leo's "SHOWDOWN" video, which contained inappropriate lyrics and was uploaded in October on the Trainee A YouTube channel.

The team also sincerely apologized for failing to recognize the issue's seriousness and releasing an inappropriate content video. They decided to delete the video after recognizing the issue.

The statement also said that the company would also like to apologize to everyone to whom they caused distress and pain because of the lyrics in question. Furthermore, they will exercise extra caution while creating content.

According to the team, they will exercise vigilance to make sure that every trainee, including Leo, completely comprehends the issues related to respect and diversity so that they can be more mindful of their words and actions.

The production agency also wanted to ensure to be more attentive to viewers' advice and continue to strive for creating better content.

Trainee A production also posted an English apology from Leo, who stated that he would like to sincerely apologize to everyone who was offended by the lyrics released on "Showdown"'s first episode.

The rapper added that as it was a competition, he felt as though he needed to use more provocative expressions and words to create an impact. However, it ultimately led him to make an extremely poor decision over which he feel great embarrassment.

Leo also said that he had absolutely no intention to degrade or offend anyone but his thoughts and words were very immature and he deeply apologized and also felt extremely ashamed and embarrassed about his performance. Leo reportedly has been reflecting on his mistakes endlessly and learning from them.

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