BTS fans demand an apology from Aussie Talk Show for racist COVID joke

There’s a lot to be said for K-pop band BTS’s appearance at the Grammys on Sunday night, between the group’s matching Louis Vuitton red carpet suits, funky, inspired performances. their 007 in “Butter”, and of course, swoon clip band member V flirts with Olivia Rodrigo in the stands.

And yet, the Australian talk show Project Instead, they decided to focus on the group’s recent brush with COVID-19 in its coverage at the awards ceremony. Now, Project‘S The Twitter account has drawn the ire of BTS fans for its use of cheap, manipulative editing. summarize of the evening to make jokes about V spreading the virus.

“The feeling that K-Pop BTS has defeated, ignores their recent battle with COVID-19,” one woman narrates in the video, referring to band member Jungkook testing positive. with the virus on March 27. Despite that positive test result, BTS’ manager Big Hit Music Company announced the day before the Grammy Awards that Jungkook had been isolated and recovering from a case of the virus. mild, and he was finally allowed to attend the awards ceremony after receiving a negative result from a rapid antigen test.

Controversial video from Project then showed a clip of host Trevor Noah asking BTS how they were feeling, to which they replied that they were feeling great and cut V dancing in the stands with his hand over his mouth. For tasteless breakthroughs, Project edited the snippet out of context to make it look as if V was coughing, adding fake sound effects and graphics like the pointed CDC drawing of the COVID-19 virus spreading through the air around him. The actual video clearly shows that the singer does not have a cough; he was simply watching Justin Bieber’s performance of “Peaches”.

The six-and-a-half-minute video is filled with cheesy, unhappy jokes (“Lady Gaga came out to sing – or that, or her dress was too tight”). But considering the rise in hatred of Asians and the horrific violence against Asians since the start of the pandemic, showing that a Korean member of BTS spread COVID at the Grammys only created harmful racist stereotypes.

The people of the Down Under group must have no idea what they’ve gotten into by messing with one of the biggest, most obsessive fandoms in the music world. Project It was quickly shared on Twitter, with the BTS Army flooding the video with comments condemning the joke as racist and calling on the chat show to delete its post and apologise.

“If your initial idea of ​​editing a clip showing Asian public figures was to link them to the virus/COVID, then I suggest you seek help.” a user commented. “It’s racist, you’re being utterly despicable, and you’re continuing to hate Asians. Don’t even try to hide it as a joke. ” Other wrote, “You used your show, ‘The Project’, which many Australians watch nightly, to perpetuate hatred against Asians at a time when hate crimes against Asians are on the rise. at the highest level. Make a formal apology immediately. ”

As of Monday afternoon, Project has yet to respond, but thanks to the dedication of BTS Army, #StopAsianHate has started appearing on Twitter.