What's With The Recent Mass Bullying in Kpop?

      About two months ago, we BTS ARMY were in the trenches fighting for Yoongi during the scooter incident. He dropped a scooter on its side, a kick board scooter with a seat like teens ride in the US. This was not a motorcycle or Vespa type but a lightweight little scooter. Not rehashing everything here but we ARMY fought Korean media who set out to destroy Yoongi's reputation with lies and misinformation (things I'm convinced they knew were lies but ran with anyway not anticipating the power of ARMY to call them out on it.) We fought and we protected Yoongi the best way we could and we did that alone.

   Other Kpop fandoms either went silent offering no sympathy or they participated in the hate train against him making things worse. You see, I haven't forgotten the malicious fake ARMY TikToks they did encouraging drunk driving and pretending it was ARMY posting them. I haven't forgotten the pictures taken from Pinterest and the hashtags they trended on Twitter creating a fake Suga challenge. When Yoongi was being bullied and having death threats and wreaths sent and having fake forums set up online with fake fans pushing for him to leave the group, they didn't reach out. They didn't band together to shout loud for us. They joined in and laughed in our faces. Like bullies do. 

     "ARMY only has BTS and BTS only has ARMY" we said as we re-charted Agust D songs and made block lists to keep negativity off the timeline. We did a K-media blackout and forced some agencies to apologize (however half-assed these so called apologies were). Banners of support were put in front of Hybe and all over from International ARMYs showing love and support for Yoongi. A few individual celebrities showed support and Coldplay's massive fanbase of Coldplayers offered support and encouragement as did Brazilian Beehive. We got nothing from kpoppies but we didn't expect anything anyway so it came as no surprise. One thing we did say was this bullying is a major issue and if it can happen to us (BTS/ARMY) it can happen to you too (other Kpop groups). 

     Fast forward to now. We're right back in the trenches again. A whole new wave of hate trains started and it feels like deja vu with a little 'I told you so' thrown in. A mass malicious campaign to kick Seunghan out of Riize took place and however things went down, he's no longer an official member of the group. The same thing haters and (probably paid) malicious actors tried to do to Yoongi happened to Riize. Seunghan didn't do anything wrong to be kicked out and neither did Yoongi for them to call for his dismissal. But this mass bullying "worked" because SM didn't stand behind their artist. 

    Riize fans have called for ARMY to help and ARMYs have shared petitions and shared hashtags in support. I made a comment the other day that I was staying silent though I agree he was treated unfairly and I wish the best for him in the future. Funny how ARMY is accused if being so toxic but when other fandoms need help some ARMY are willing to lend a hand despite not getting anything in return. I said I would stay in my lane and be quiet but something else happened to change my mind.

     As I watched the rest of Kpop support Riize, including some ARMY. The hate train shifted back to Yoongi. Why? It's been two months. His case is over. He paid an unfair fine and it's done. Well the haters figure they got rid of a Riize member so they're coming at BTS again. Well Hybe isn't SM and neither is Big Hit. BTS owns their company so Yoongi isn't going anywhere. ARMY is back in the trenches standing up for Yoongi as always. BTS is 7 and will ALWAYS be 7. 

     Haters sent funeral wreaths to intimidate Seunghan. This is a malicious practice of bullying that is somehow a trend in South Korea now where Kpop is concerned. Sending death wreaths as if to say 'you're dead' or 'your career is dead'is the way hate is expressed by cowardly bullies who hide their faces behind medical masks as they send giant funeral wreaths with taunting statements on them attached to ribbons adorning the flowers. These are floral arrangements meant for sending condolences to families of the deceased. They left the wreaths up so he could see them as he left the building. How this is allowed and tolerated in South Korean society, one that already has a high suicide rate, I have no idea. You would think this kind of intimidation and bullying would be punished. I mean you fall off a scooter and they call for your head on a silver platter but sending death threats in the form of funeral flowers is fine. God forbid you have a relationship as a Kpop idol but death threats in the form of funeral flowers is fine apparently. I saw a video where fans had left supportive messages for Seunghan and he got the chance to read them and that hit my heart some kind of way. I'm glad he was able to see that and I hope it drowns out all the hate. 

   The funeral wreath bullying came back to Hybe. The people who did it were caught on camera because they had the audacity to stay onsite at Hybe with the wreaths. They were boo'ed by International ARMYs as ARMY made sure to stand their ground and show love and support for all 7 of BTS particularly Yoongi who is the target of these haters. Food trucks and message trucks helped overshadow the negativity of the disgusting wreaths. ARMY wearing purple and carrying purple ribbons chanted the 7 members names known as a fan chant and calmly protested against haters in front of Hybe. ARMY on social media made memes and TikToks sharing support and thanks for ARMY that was available at Hybe to represent the fandom. They also shared the footage of the bullies so people will know somewhat who is behind this malicious behavior. Threads ARMY as well as Twitter ARMY reported as much as we could to the new Hybe portal. 

     As we went about reporting accounts we found out that there were other attacks supposedly planned against Enhyphen and Shinee. I don't listen to any of these other groups but at this point that is irrelevant. I'm ARMY only but the more I heard about this the angrier I got. I don't want to see anyone get hurt no matter what group they are from and this now feels like it is bigger than just a bunch of brainless antis. This seems like a coordinated attack and someone in the industry is behind it. Several lines have long since been crossed and exorbitant amounts of money have been shelled out for these very expensive funeral wreaths. They can go for about $4k each! There were multiple wreaths lined up side by side totaling possibly over $20k and up for a whole line of them. I don't think the average hater sitting behind a computer has that kind of money to flush down the toilet. I know they do some fundraising but, are there enough of them to have raised about $20k plus in a few days to pay for all these wreaths? I don't know. It's possible but in my opinion not as likely.

     I have a theory that seems to be one shared a bit certain social sites. My theory is that Min Hee-Jin or MHJ is behind this. It's just an opinion at this time, a theory. She is the former manager (who knows what is going on with that messy situation but as far as I know I will say former manager) of NewJeans who has beef with pretty much all of Kpop right now. She has several lawsuits going on with Hybe, Belift, and Source music. You can read all about it here because this article sums up the drama better than I could. She wants to destroy BTS because apparently she thinks Bang PD stole the idea for BTS from her. This is a pattern that will continue and sounds like narcissistic behavior to me. She has openly stated that she will use whatever she can to bring about their downfall and will use whatever media she can even if the stories are not true. This makes me speculate that the whole scooter incident was possibly a setup. It's not unfathomable that someone she hired tailed Yoongi after work when he went out with his colleagues in the service and this person knew he was drinking and called the police giving his location and saying that he had been drinking. He was followed by those cops as we see on the video. They didn't just appear out of thin air. 

   MHJ used to work for SM as a creative director. Both Riize and Shinee (ok just noticed the names, trying not to giggle because that's cute) are with SM Entertainment. I don't know the circumstances of her leaving SM but Google says burnout which seems a little bland to me. Not downplaying burnout because it is a real thing but I doubt that's why. Other rumors are that there was an issue with the concept she was planning for a girl group and her concept was rejected by higher ups and they decided to focus on developing NCT. This is just a rumor and not confirmed. But if this is the case then she may be trying to get revenge on SM's boy groups. Her thinking seems to be that she does no wrong and everyone else just takes from her.

     Riize was targeted by hate trains to get rid of Seunghan who was on "hiatus" for having had a girlfriend prior to becoming a member (as far as I know). Another dumb reason to kick someone out of a group. I mean to be real SM has a dirty history with how they treat their talent and they also have had criminals in their midst that have seen and hopefully will see jail time for actual crimes. To kick someone out for dating is just stupid. It may sound harsh but in the rest of the world, like Yoongi's scooter mishap, this wouldn't have even raised eyebrows. After the hate campaign, Seunghan was removed from the group. According to fans of Shinee they are the being targeted next on the list with haters going after Onew. I don't know the details of why the hate train is coming for him and Shinee but it doesn't even matter because none of this makes any sense. By that I mean it's all just hate for hate's sake and none of the reasons will make sense because none of these artists deserve this at all. There's no way to justify any of this at all.

     The targeted hate trains are going after Enhyphen as well. There are two members of Enhyphen they are planning to target to get them kicked out of their groups. I have no idea why they would want to kick them out either but Enhyphen is with Belift Labs which is the same company that Illit is with. Belift is suing MHJ due to her allegations of plagiarism against Illit. See the pattern now? Everyone according to her has stolen choreography or concepts or something or other from her. I hope all these other fandoms fight back and fight back hard and smart and I hope these other companies actually stand behind their artists and won't let haters win in their bullying. 

     MHJ's karma is coming. Whether she is behind this particular shit storm of events or not she has done enough. She made he bed and now she has to lie in it. Hybe will have their hands full dealing with what's to come with her and I hope they make all the right decisions there and don't try to be lenient with any punishments to her or anyone else involved with interfering, bullying, or attempted sabotage of other groups. 

     What can we do? There are petitions going around and they can be effective if used the right way. I will link the one I signed. The hope is that the media will see the petitions (I guess by scrolling through the site? ) and articles will be written and these causes will be brought to the attention of the people who need to see them. Ideally since this one is really gaining traction and has over 10k signatures now, someone on the South Korean side would take the petition and print it out with all of the signatures and comments. It needs to be formally presented to people who make laws so they can see that there is a global interest in ending the use of these funeral wreaths as a bullying tactic. They also need to know that this is an issue bringing negative attention to the country and how it is perceived globally. Allowing these people be bullied , publicly shamed, and sent death threats is wrong. Here is the link to the petition if anyone wants to sign. It can't hurt to try. 

     Idols are human beings and deserve to be treated with respect. If you don't like an artist it takes nothing to mind your own business and keep scrolling. Focus on what you do like without trashing other artists who are also working hard to make it in a difficult industry. I never understood hateful culture of anti-fans. Idols should be able to date in peace without being kicked out of the group for it or dropped by their label. A very minor mistake like Yoongi's riding on a scooter after having a few drinks (a little kick board scooter) should be forgiven and don't warrant calls to be forced out of the group. No one thinks of what this does to a person's self-esteem and mental health. Losing a career can be devastating and haters sitting behind a computer and hiding behind a mask shouldn't get to ruin people's lives while the public closes their eyes to bullying.

***Media: Check out this video starting at 9:24 for more info on the Min Hee Jin/ Belift/ Source Music drama 

Asian Entertainment and Culture YouTube 

ARMY Appreciation Post And Update

      It's been one long month. Somehow the weeks seem to have blended into one another inside the bubble of ARMY and social media. I want to thank all ARMY who have been in this with us from the beginning of this K-media bullying Yoongi fiasco. ARMY who fought relentlessly and who continue to protect all 7 of BTS members, thank you. If you streamed, reported accounts, told others when they posted and shared misinformation that they were wrong, if you sent positive notes to Yoongi on social media, shared the positive blog posts, streamed, bought songs, watched videos, made block lists, or anything positive that I missed you are seen and we thank you. Thank you Philippines ARMY for putting up the banners near Hybe and any international ARMY who helped with funding. Thanks ARMY who participated in block lists and got people on board with keeping clout chasers in check (more on that in a bit because I have some thoughts, you know I do).  

     I have been ARMY since 2018 but I didn't really become active in the social media part of the fandom until BTS did "My Universe" with Coldplay. I had a Twitter but it was for keeping up with politics and news and I followed a few Coldplayers on there. I used my personal Twitter and it turned into a stan account then. Things were cool for a while until things changed the deeper I got into the fandom there. I learned a lot but I also saw a lot that was really bad. I deleted my account this past spring and haven't rejoined. I probably never will. I'm not bothered about it because I am on Threads and IG. I don't do Tik Tok or Facebook for the same reasons (way too much toxicity in a lot of areas I don't want to be exposed to). So coming to Threads the first day the app launched and being there since the beginning has been interesting. 

     What Threads ARMY started as a safe space that was supposed to be non-toxic is being tested by haters and clout chasers. I honestly don't know anymore who is worse, antis or attention seekers. Now lets get one thing out of the way. We all want attention but the way we want it is different. I don't care about followers. I never did. I'm not getting paid on any of these social media platforms. I have 0 blue checks and I don't have 1000 IG followers so I don't get paid there or on Threads. The attention I like is how we all get hype on release days, how I have a post about "Are You Sure?" that has over 5k views in less than 24hrs (a lot for my small account). That means locals may watch the show and it means good things for BTS ratings on Disney+. Other so-called "ARMY" among us are clout chasing and making it look like they have good intentions and I am not here for it. With everything happening with Yoongi and with antis attacking the other member's accounts and MHJ still up to her nasty tricks I am not playing with anyone here. 

     When knowledgeable ARMYs tell you to delete tabloid drama just do it. Do not argue. I had someone show on my feed who posted something that was a lie from Koreaboo about Jimin's dad. This lie had been proven false with receipts over a week ago. I tried to tell her her info was wrong and not to spread it and she said basically to keep scrolling if you don't like it. I said 'OK bye' and blocked her. Then I see someone spreading old ass Samsung lies again. The Samsung thing about them deleting Yoongi was one insignificant Samsung account on Twitter that deleted one pic. It was not one of their major accounts. This got blown up by Koreaboo and turned into the lie that ARMY was boycotting Samsung. Where? I'm not boycotting them and no other ARMYs I follow are either. I have been Team Samsung since before BTS were ambassadors. I have been Team Samsung since some ARMY were in diapers. I was using Samsung before iPhone came out. No stupid post by someone who doesn't have the common sense or decency to fact check before rage posting is going to cause me to "go break my phone" so I can get an iPhone as someone posted. 

     NewJeans has a contract with Apple and shot one of their videos on iPhone. MHJ is their manager and has made it no secret that she wants to destroy BTS so that NewJeans can take their place at Hybe. There has been speculation that she is behind all the media bullying of Yoongi because she has a friend who wrote at least one of the malicious stories against him. What are these people who are quick to call for boycotts of anything going to do if it turns out that MHJ paid off the media to smear Yoongi and her girls represent iPhone? Are they going to jump to Google Pixel next? No shade to any of the companies because all of their phones are good. People just need to be conscious of what they are saying when they use their platforms to call for people to do something like this based on gossip and rumors.  Sorry not sorry but if you run with rumors and share without fact checking and share rumors out of anger as if they are facts then you deserve to be on a block list and you are not ARMY. Does anyone bother to think that if this blows up more Samsung might say they will actually go with others as ambassadors because ARMY is being a pain in the ass over nothing? I know contracts end and Samsung already has promos with TXT and Enhyphen. BTS likely has not done anything with Samsung that's on hold to be released later so any promotions that are already out featuring BTS members is probably all there is for now. NONE of the more major divisions of Samsung deleted any Suga pics. Only Samsung Germany on Twitter. Stop spreading misinformation. We have been over this. Fact check and ask before posting or sharing. 

     The thing with block lists needs to be addressed because the people sharing misinformation should be added to these lists too. If you are told that you have made a post that is misinformation and the person explains why and you like their post for a boost and don't delete, what that tells me is that you are here for clout and to boost your followers or likes and not here for BTS. How so? Some people join fandoms and use the group so they have something to post about and so they can have a community of followers, then use fake news and scandals from the group or artist to post about. They know there are those in the fandom who will seek out these gossip stories or seek out the drama and will feed that and they know their likes and follows will go up if they post something controversial. This happened this past week with fake ARMY posting Yoongi's photo lineup at the police station. As soon as ARMY found out that he was going to go to the police station to participate in this and we found out how humiliating it is intended to be for anyone accused of a crime, we posted Purple Ribbon Project posts and forewarned others that if they were seen posting video or pictures of Yoongi at the police station that they were going to be immediately blocked. So why then when they had at least two or three days of warning would they post anyway? For attention. All the ones who dared to post police line pictures with captions saying things like "Yoongi we stand with you" were particularly disrespectful. I need people to start using their brains. There are hundreds of thousands of pictures of BTS out there -official ones- and they chose the photo lineup to show support. One account posted this type of post today. Literally this morning. Days later! Be for real. This is all done for clout. I know I use that word a lot but that's what it is. They want a type of attention that's achieved by doing something performative rather than from doing something genuine. I guess that's the best way I can explain my use (and probably over use but I don't care) of the word. Good attention=ARMY sharing things they like, supportive photos of Yoongi in good times// Bad attention and clout chasing= "OMG can you believe this?" and proceeds to post Koreaboo screenshot and pics of Jimin's dad's restaurant taken out of context. This is the difference in normal attention and what I call attention seeking behavior. They will take negative attention because to them that's still attention and it also equates to anti behavior in my opinion.

     No one is forcing you to block anyone if you see these block list posts. Common sense says don't just block blindly and I would assume most of us have that. You should always go through the account and look for yourself if you don't mind seeing what you find there. Now I will warn you, there is an account on the block list that we encourage Twitter users to block. This account has graphic sexual content being used to bully a member of BTS and it is in the form of drawings and vile cartoons. We cannot post that kind of stuff and say "hey block this account here's why" and share screenshots of that on Threads. I didn't want to see it when it was sent to me and brought to my attention but now if I see that name on a block list I know exactly why it's there. We go through these accounts so you don't have to but you have the ultimate say in who you block. I was told that we have power and that people are going around blindly blocking people because of these block lists.  How do you know that? Are people going around bragging "hey I blindly block people no matter who made the block list." I doubt it. I think we struck a nerve with people who are scared to be blocked. Well that's just the way it is. Some people are annoying and I usually just mute before I block but these people doing actual harm to Yoongi by spreading his police line pictures and people libeling the names of family members of BTS and potentially getting themselves caught up in libelous company slander need to be blocked. Don't like block lists? Don't participate. Keep scrolling like I do when I see posts about things I disagree with. It's not that hard.

    The thing about social media is that it is all built around being social. Blocking keeps things off of the timeline whether you block or someone else blocks to keep it from you (protect you from it). On Threads, any and everything you respond to is shared with your followers. On a daily basis I see my moots congratulating people on random things, fighting the patriarchy, talking about other groups and fandoms they belong to, sharing Korean learning advice, etc and if anything doesn't click well with me I swipe it away or click "not interested' and keep it moving. If you see a post of something that belongs on a block list and you engage with the post guess what? Now that post is on all of your follower's feeds with your response to it. It's best to DM someone and ask them to remove a pic rather than to ask on the feed. I have done this too but now I am trying to do better. If you block it it's likely less people will see it. 

     I understand that some people might use block lists to try to get rid of people who haven't done anything wrong but frankly what's stopping people from going into a group chat and saying "Jane Doe is annoying lets DM all the ARMYs we can to block her"?  Absolutely nothing. If people block you you should just get over it because maybe they weren't for you and you weren't for them. It happens. I haven't seen anyone add anyone to the block lists I have participated in that didn't belong there and I have no control over what someone else decides to do on their end if they end up being inspired by something me and other ARMYs do. We already know solos have block lists on Twitter where they add OT7s -who cares? We don't want to see or deal with them anyway. Maybe some saw names listed on the block list then went to block them and didn't see the Yoongi photo line pics so they assumed it was a "witch hunt." That's because some deleted them when they found out they were being added to lists and blocked. You can tell if something has been deleted recently on Threads because a block sometimes shows up grayed out that says "Content Not Available." That something that was deleted isn't always something bad but in the case of these posts it was. I still ended up blocking all the ones like this on the list because they all had other things I didn't like on their pages on Threads or on their IG (yes I check there too before I block). There were toxic shippers making inappropriate comments about the boys sleeping arrangements in "Are You Sure?' and some with edited pictures shipping members with girl group members intended to start dating rumors. Unacceptable.

     I will do a post about Threads in the future because there is a lot to get into about how things work there as opposed to how things work on Twitter. Lots of new people joined this month that are coming from Twitter as ARMY (or fake ARMY seeking attention) and we have to clean up our space because it is definitely not how it was even two or three months ago. We will be OK though. ARMY always pulls through and this too shall pass. Great work this month on protecting and showing love to all members and putting shields up to protect Yoongi. We will be fine and the guys will be fine. This too shall pass. 

Apobangpo! <3