By Jae-Ha Kim
jaehakim.com
May 14, 2021
When Rolling Stone put BTS on its cover the other day, it was the first time the music magazine gave that honor to an all-Asian group. I read it. It was good. It was also written by yet another white man. Though he did a fine job, I found it disappointing that in this of all months — Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month — the article wasn’t assigned to an Asian American staffer (yes, RS does have some) or another one of their BIPOC writers.
I mentioned this on Twitter, where many people understood where I was coming from. Many people agreed.
Some argued that it didn’t matter who wrote it as long as the septet got a well-written article. Others stated that if it had been a horrible article, everyone would be demanding that the next piece should be written by a bilingual, ethnically Korean reporter. They pointed out that it’s unfair to ask Korean journalists to clean up after white journalists only after there’s been poor coverage.
But the real pile on started after a person (who has since made her feed private, because she was being harassed for agreeing with me) and I briefly tweeted to each other. She said:
It doesn’t even matter if you read it. The same people calling you jealous are the the same people who angrily tweeted about the Grammys and other white institutions being racist and unfair towards BTS. And then they wake up everyday and call themselves “allies.” TUH.
I responded:
They’re also the first ones who demand that I stand up for the group when a white person says anything negative about them.
I never said I didn’t want to support BTS, Asians, Koreans, Asian Americans or other minorities, but that’s how they chose to interpret a short exchange. We had been talking about faux allies — the type of people who think they’re not prejudiced or racist, because they like one Korean group.
Most people understood:
Many people who didn’t even like my wording understood my sentiment:
But they were drowned out by the horde of people who took the tweet and twisted it to fit their own narrative:
They didn’t like being referred to as they. They didn’t like my referring to BTS as the group.
Here’s one thing I learned from previously being dragged on social media: Fans don’t want words like BTS or ARMY mentioned unless it’s referencing something positive. Had I said BTS instead of the group, I would’ve been accused of using them for clout … for making them trend in a non positive way … and for drawing attention to something that shouldn’t have garnered attention.
Anyhow, as in the past, the result of all this negativity was a two-day pile on. They equated a tweet I made in response to a deleted tweet by someone else to mean that I don’t care about racism in general or BTS (in particular). And that I — a Korean — only defended a Korean group because random people I don’t know told me to.
Of course, none of this makes sense. What kind of power do they think they hold over me that I would do what they wanted me to do, rather than what I wanted to do? I don’t expect them to know that I have fought against racism since before the members of BTS were born. But there’s been plenty of easy-to-find evidence in the past few years:
I’m fvcking angry. And when I’m angry I write. Look forward to it.
— Jae-Ha Kim 김재하 (@GoAwayWithJae) February 26, 2021
Have they already forgotten about Brian Steinberg, Harry Shearer, Matthias Matuschik (1) (2) (3), emasculation of Asian men, Anne Hegerty, THR, Richard Lloyd Parry, and Ethan-gate (which resulted in my receiving tens of thousands of racist messages from some of his two million followers)? Many of these tweets were followed up by articles I wrote. Some were published in mainstream media. Others were documented on my personal website.
But once a pile on begins, some people use that as an opportunity to dig up any other supporting “evidence” they can to try to discredit me and my work.
This actually is a justifiable complaint, because as a reader, I would’ve been curious why it was missing as well. As a journalist, I know that writers do not have control over the final copy, the art used, the captions, the outlet’s tweets, nothing. But from what I remember, the editor on duty that day inserted the copy back in after ARMY made it known that bits were missing.
Many of you may recall (or not) that this review didn’t come out on the same day that the CD was released (as with my previous BTS music review). Why? I was diagnosed with cancer and was scheduled to have surgery on the same day as the CD’s release date. I had told my editor that I would need to skip this one. But when my editor forgot and asked when I’d be filing the review, my work-mode kicked in and I reviewed it after all. From the hospital.
I wrote this after the anesthesia wore off. Though I was exhausted, it was actually nice having something beautiful to listen to after surgery. (And before anyone misinterprets what I just said: I was physically tired from what my body went through.) I can only guess, but I’m fairly certain I’m the only journalist who filed a review almost immediately after waking up from an invasive medical procedure.
So if you want to use some weirdo metrics to determine who’s a better ARMY, I’d say that waking up from surgery and writing a review of BTS’ new album is right up there.
Another justifiable complaint was that I hadn’t blacked out all the usernames in my Instagram Stories. That was an unfortunate error on my part and I deleted those as soon as it was brought to my attention.
But for some, it was less important to see what was actually occurring vs. attacking because they don’t like someone I’m following on Twitter:
Bora is someone on the internet, who I don’t know in real life. She provides translations for fans who don’t speak Korean.
My comment had nothing to do with her. I showed support for a 50something woman, who had broken down in tears, because she was being harassed by some fans for being older, having a lot of souvenirs and, in their opinion, was unattractive. The thread obviously was about her. But this is a common tactic people like this resort to when they just want to be mean and stupid on the internet.
I have to interject at this point, because this person is just vamping and making up a whole bunch of things to hear herself talk.
I may as well toot my own horn here. I literally had an established career well before Jin (the eldest member of BTS) was even born in 1992. I already was a music critic for one of the largest newspapers in the United States. I had published a New York Times Bestseller and would soon release another book that went into multiple printings. I was an on-air entertainment reporter for a local news station. I was a weekly entertainment contributor for one of Chicago’s most highly-rated radio shows. During my free time, I wrote freelance articles for outlets like Rolling Stone, Variety and Entertainment Weekly. I did a week-long stint on the Today Show. I did all of this while working full-time as a reporter.
In other words … while I love BTS’ music and what they stand for … while I’m very proud of their achievements in a way that only a fellow Korean could understand … My career was never built off of them or their success, because I was here first doing my own thing. BTS is the kind of group I had been hoping for, but never thought would exist in my lifetime. That they showed up when they did is a bonus, but not my raison d’etre (which, in my case, is my child).
For this group of detractors who are always harping on others to do their research, they are especially lazy when it comes to doing even the minimal amount of work when it comes to the people they hate.
To make this crystal clear: This ruckus was caused by a small percentage of fans — about 3,000 disgruntled people, out of millions and millions and millions who understood what was being said just fine — who ran with ridiculous theories they chose to believe. All because they assumed that I was jealous and that I had no interest in speaking up for my own people.
I have supported BTS for many years, whether in my own articles or in quotes for other journalists’ pieces.
In the past, I have shared covers from Time, Entertainment Weekly, PAPER, Billboard and the best one: David Holmes’ superior piece for Esquire. All but one of those were written by white journalists, who did a fine job.
But it’s 2021 now. Minority journalists — particularly Korean American writers — should have the same opportunity as white reporters to tackle these prestigious covers. Maybe their take won’t be better than their white colleagues. Maybe they will. But how will we ever know if they’re not given a chance?
Of course, not everyone feels this way. And these “fans” are the ones who continue to cause drama, purely for their own enjoyment.
Some are enraged about how I choose to express my opinions and wrote off my legitimate concerns as a complaint and being angry or hurt or throwing a fit. I am a grown woman who has seen more racism and sexism in this business than this person can imagine. None of this angered me or hurt my feelings, because Rolling Stone’s decision — unfortunately for them — was par for the course.
And like most people who try to control my views, they have very different standards for themselves.
People like her profess to find value in individual opinions … As long as it’s theirs.
Note: I started this post on May 14 and have been updating a bit here and there. This post isn’t a rebuttal, so much as it is a time capsule of things at this time. Thank you to everyone who has sent me screenshots for references. I’ve only included the ones that I could substantiate. Cheers!
© 2021 JAE-HA KIM | All Rights Reserved
EXTRA, EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT:
“Minari”: Deconstructing the American Dream
“Squid Game” Is a Social Allegory Informed by Korean History
How BTS Are Breaking K-Pop’s Biggest Taboos
Tin Machine gives its singer power to be Simply Bowie
The Racism BTS Continues to Face Is Part of Larger Anti-Asian Xenophobia
K-drama Adoption Storylines Are Making Positive Strides, But There’s More Work to Do
Thank you for saying that this isn’t all Army but on behalf of Army I also want to apologize for the stupid troublemakers. They are an embarrassment to the boys and draw negative attention on themselves and our fandom. We’re not perfect but we try to do good.
Why are they so pressed and calling you jealous? That’s all they’ve got? I don’t think you’re jealous at all. But hell yeah, I’m jealous. I’ll never get the chance to interview BTS, because the white gatekeepers where I work will assign our white music critic who knows nothing about BTS or K-pop. They think it’s little girl music and make fun of it, but will pretend they know what they’re talking about. And hahah I’m not putting my real name here because I don’t want antis to come after me. But you can tell by my email who I am. Fighting, Jae, fighting!
My sister is an Army. I like BTS but I’m not a stan. What I find scary is how aggressive and entitled these fans are in wanting your time when they order you to reply. They are obnoxious about it, too, which I suppose is their attempt at being edgy. They are lazy too. Each one of them was hounding you to reply specifically to them. They had time to dig out your tweets from two or three years ago but they didn’t have time to hit Tweet Replies to find you replies to people? You don’t owe anyone anything anytime anywhere nada zip zilch.
They are all illiterate assholes. Please don’t think all of ARMY is like them. They don’t know how to understand the written word and like to bully. I was bullied because I’m 27 and they called me a hag lol. I’m literally younger than Jin and Suga!
To be honest I think your tweet was fine but you should have waited until after the boys comeback to say it. Why say it now? It was bad timing. Just my opinion.
Dude the timing was perfect. AAPI Heritage month. Asian group written by another white guy. What better time is there?
There was nothing wrong with the timing CK. Everyone was thinking it but no one was brave enough to say it.
You’re a moron. Just my opinion.
Thought reaching out here might be better since you seem to believe that every one who is trying to have a conversation with you is a dumb child. It’s funny that it is the very stereotype that misogynists love to throw at boy band fans, but you have no problem perpetuating it when your own feelings are hurt. That says a lot about your true self. In other circumstances, you would probably say that teenage girls also deserve to have their opinions heard, but this would be hypocritical for you now. I’m 28, so maybe you’ll think what I say is worthy of being heard? By the way, anyone who is friends with people that support the likes of @leespring_ is a vile individual. Your friend that has been insulting and demeaning women of color, including adults, in the name of defending you frequently interacts with that person, so what does that say about you that these are the kinds of people you call friends? I am a grown woman, and you’re a grown woman as well, so I will not tell you what to do. I will just let you know that this reflects very, very poorly on your character. But at least we know now who you really are and will keep it in mind in the future.
28 year old Karen having a Boomer moment.
Does anyone know what she’s talking about? Looks like she’s lost in an episode of General Hospital or sumthing.
It’s a word salad. I don’t accept her as Army. More like a sasaeng or anti.
This is uncalled for “a grown woman”.
GTFO Nancy. Mind your own business and stop trying to control everyone’s Twitter feed. You don’t like Nina because she insulted women of color for insulting Jae who is also a woman of color. And Nina is Black. You don’t like Lee because he called I Armys out. He’s not talking about everyone, Nancy, he’s talking about the likes of YOU specifically who talk over Black and Asian people. You’re 28, Nancy. Get a grip and stop attacking Jae and others because you can’t read or comprehend. You’re reaching like Elastagirl.
lol lady you have issues. I hope i’m not behaving like a 12 year old when I’m 28.
She didn’t say any of those things, you just have poor reading comprehension and analytical skills. I suggest you and all your other online bullies spend less time attacking a woman for what you think she said and concentrate on bettering yourself. Being 28 doesn’t mean anything other than prove that you haven’t learned much in your time on earth. Stop “protecting” a group of millions who don’t need it or want you to lie on their behalf.
28, yet still acting like a whole child.
I’m the person she’s talking about and yes I interact with leespring. If you did your due diligence, you’d see some of those interactions are calling out his interactions with ARMY. See, that’s what real adults do. They are consistent in their beliefs and don’t change them or silence them at the whims of a boy band comeback or because a portion of a fandom lack reading comprehension and integrity.
Keep crying about it.
Is it just me or are all the complaining Tweeters just vindictive little harpies who deliberately conflate anything anyone says so they can twist it for drama and their own performative activism? What Jae said is absolutely correct. The same ones who bully her and other journalists are the ones to demand (yes, DEMAND, I said it) that she do their bidding and protect the “boys.” Just the fact that they are bent out of shape over a tweet that anyone with a mental capacity of an 8th grader would understand is shocking. They are a group of hive-minded idiots with nothing better to do and among the most pathetic music “fans” out there. I guarantee you that anyone this bent out of shape about an Asian woman saying she doesn’t like people demanding her to be BTS’s attack dog are full of shit and are not in it for the music, but for the cute “boys.” They are sheep minded drama seekers. Some profess to be adults, but that’s even more disgusting. It’s one thing for a child to behave in this manner. But grown women acting like foaming at the mouth harpies? Shame on them.
I thought this was all funny at first because it’s so ridiculous. But what I found really disturbing was how most of these girls and women blamed everything on jealousy. It’s such a shame that in 2021, that’s what it all boils down to with haters. If anyone dares say anything even remotely controversial, it’s because they’re jealous. It’s such a sad thought process. It’s no wonder that our previous president was elected. The young ones who are easily led astray are the ones who grow up to vote. That’s a scary thought.
Oh the idiots are still on this. They think they’re really doing something screencapping her og comment saying, This you? As if they caught her doing something illegal when all she said was that it’s frustrating being ordered around by fans when she has supported minorities all along. They’re dumb.
I wanted to say something on Twitter but I also didn’t want to be deal with the stream of crazies either, so I’m sorry that I didn’t support you there. It’s bad optics that Rolling Stone chose a white writer for this cover story during Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Any other month it would not have stuck out so much. That’s all I’ll say about that. What I read a lot on Twitter was that he did a good job so therefore why complain about it. These fans don’t care about Asians. They only care about BTS. They don’t care about the advancement of Asians. Just BTS. As long as BTS gets positive covers and media attention, they don’t care about anything else. Thank you for caring about the everyday Asians and Asian Americans who aren’t BTS and who are working hard everyday to get recognition in our own fields. Please continue to speak up even though I can understand you might not want to anymore.
Why are all your followers attacking those of us who are pointing out your true colors? Bringing them over from twitter huh?
She didn’t post a link to this article on social media that I’m aware of. Some of us read her blog posts because her articles are interesting and don’t concentrate on just one person/group/genre/ethnicity/race. Jae has been an advocate for Asian Americans and Asian representation long before there was Twitter or BTS or probably you. Stop attacking a woman who did nothing wrong. She said something that you don’t agree with. Fine so move along.
She didn’t post this on Twitter or IG. I don’t have FB but I checked and as of today there is no link to this. pgmonly is just salty and angry and can’t believe people have lives outside of Twitter.
Nice try but she never shared this on social media. There’s a bunch of us who are interested in other things besides stanning and have been following her work for years. The world does not revolve around you and your petty in fighting and your inability to decipher the written words.
Shouldn’t you be raising your child instead of fighting on stan twitter?
not you pulling this sexist trope again. replying to a few people isn’t ‘fighting’. thousands of immature brats attacked her for days on stan twitter and you have the nerve to play victim? many people are able to do their jobs and raise a child. it’s not either/or.
I am beyond embarassed on behalf of sane Army members that you had to see any of this bullshit. They talk about you twisting things when they did the worse and big accounts were encouraging their followers to harrass you. I read so many comments where they said they liked your articles over the years but were unfollowing you because of your tweet being not supportive enough. They are so quick to judge and cut people out just like that. Meanwhile they coo over anyone who says anything nice. The people attacking you are unreasonable. You did nothing wrong.
I don’t understand why it’s relevant whether she’s jealous of these white writers. Regardless of her personal feelings, she’s correct. BIPOC writers should be getting a bigger percentage of these big cover articles. Why’s that such an outrageous statement? Some of ya’ll have issues.
This is true. If a BIPOC writer had written this cover, it would’ve made sense. Particularly if it had been an ethnically Korean writer.
I can love BTS, be ARMY, and still think these people who participated in a witchhunt are vile. For those who say these aren’t real ARMY, yes they are. They are a small percentage of ARMY but they are ARMY. We have to accept the bad with the good, and try to educate them. Unfortunately few want to better themselves.
The crazy thing I see on stan Twitter is people determining who’s a worthy journalist to write about BTS by who else they like. If the journalist ever wrote about any other Kpop group, then they’re automatically dismissed as Kpoopies or biased people who have an agenda against BTS. That is the dumbest rationale I’ve heard outside of elementary school. They must hate BTS then because BTS likes other Kpop groups too. I dare them to call BTS Kpoopies.
You lost 3000 followers bitch
Oh good, the trash took itself out.
🤣
Thanks for keeping track bestie. Literally only clout chasers care about Twitter followers. Thanks for showing your true colours.
This is a weird take. Grow up Mingo.
lol why would anyone want 3000 people like you following them?
Not at all the besties talking over a Korean woman in the media who knows what’s going on and they don’t. Not at all the besties saying they know her true colors. Not at all the besties who think they’re really doing something with their own weak-assed bullying version of performative activism. Ms. Kim isn’t a member of the White House who has deep secrets for you to uncover. She has been consistent and transparent with her views over the decades. Bye bye besties.
I’m old. What’s a bestie? I take it it’s derogatory?
It’s kid language meant to be an insult and is the opposite of what it looks like.
Thank you!
I just assumed you shared some screenshots on Instagram out of frustration and because you have a much smaller following there than on Twitter and unlike on Twitter, most of your IG followers aren’t Kpop stans. I’ve also shared things on Stories to all my follower instead of just a subgroup of Close Friends, but it didn’t backfire on me thank god! All but two of your screenshots in your Stories had the names blocked out and you weren’t vile, so I don’t doubt that this was just an error. What I find hypocritical is that one PhD in material engineering who has over 22k followers clearly was telling her followers to harass you. She didn’t even bother to black out the visible name on the screenshot you had shared. So while yours disappeared when you deleted the ss, Omer’s will last on forever. Talk about pot calling the kettle black.
Omer is holier than though and youre right, I hadn’t realized she had that many followers. So she called Jae out for sharing a sc to 6,000 followers on IG stories that disappears in a day and she shares her tweet to 25,000 followers. She knew exactly what she was doing. Talk about performative activism. She’s just another one of those jealous women who wants to be the queen bee.
Blocking out names is good but not necessary. It’s social media. Don’t say it otherwise. Aren’t most of Jae’s Twitter followers Army? So is omer saying Army are going to attack other army just because some journalist said to which she didn’t? Then what does that reflect on us as Army? I don’t follow Jae on instagram but just about all her posts are food pics. Does omer really think foodies are going to cause any issues for army? Is Food Digest going to troll Army lol Full disclosure I had a few runins with omer in the past and she was condescending and rude when I pointed out she had her facts wrong. she blocked me. In my opinion omer drew attention to this on purpose. only a few would’ve even seen it on ig but she drew attention to it on twitter. It’s clear she was trying to have all her followers attack Jae. Sorry if i’m all ove rthe place. my phone keyboard isn’t cooperating.
Omer is very immature and jealous. One of her minions called me old and told me to die. I’m 26 which is younger than Omer and their biases
Who is this Omer?! She sounds horrible!
Omer Meroz is a busy body old woman on Twitter who is constantly tweeting negative things and made up things about Jae. She’s obviously jealous and just a very bitter person. She’s like 38 and says she has a post graduate degree in something but all she does is post about BTS. She comes across as very immature and vindictive. She’s kind of an idiot.
YIkes! Thank you!
same. jae isn’t verified on instagram and doesn’t have the huge following there as she does on twitter. there’s no need for her to block out names at all in my opinion there or on twitter. these bullies are such hypocrites. they attack people for whatever reason they can think of but if anyone calls them out they pretend they’re being bullied.
Maybe it’s just me but I personally hate it when people tell me to do something I was going to do, already did, or was thinking about doing. Who are these fans to order you around and why would they feel entitled to your time to do things on their behalf? I’ve seen all the tweets of them asking you and other verified people to share things or yelling at you for not being BTS’s savior on their behalf and yelling at every single person who looked at the group sideways. They specifically want to use your platform and expect you to drop everything. What a bunch of ingrates. The stans always say they’re not teenagers, but they sure don’t behave like adults.
These are some weird people with too much time on their hands. My sister had bullies like this and they were all about as smart as a box of rocks. These aren’t even the worst ones. I reported dozens of them on Twitter when I saw what they were doing.
It was difficult to follow along with that Queen Fabi girl because she didn’t make much sense and contradicted herself. Your haters are hating because you hid her name but didn’t share every link to her tweets or screencap all of them? Talk about an entitled bunch. If you hadn’t hidden her name, they would’ve said you were awful for that. I read all her tweets in that thread and you captured the general spirit of her intent. She doesn’t like any other Kpop group than BTS and thinks BTS are worthier than any other Kpop group because they’re BTS. She’s one of those who thinks calling BTS’ predecessors Kpoopies is clever and is supporting them by making fun of others. There are too many shortsighted people like her. She’s the type of fan who will drop them once they enter the military. Her loss. They are a great group.
They were so pressed because you showed a screencap they think will mislead otheres but they do the same themselves not only with you but with everyone else they hate and then order each other to unfollow. lol They are pathetic weirdos
Thanks, Jae! Shared this with my students about social media and online bullying and used it as an opportunity to teach them about how to represent themselves online and how to constructively deal with disagreements. One of my students recognized the username of a friend and said she reached out to her. The friend said she went along with a large account that she thought was trustworthy. My student asked why she would go along with what someone else said, without thinking for herself. It was an eye opening and good learning lesson for them.
Rolling Stone could’ve made a valuable statement by having someone Asian interview the group for its cover. But they took the safe route. The fans who complained about your tweets are excessively protective and delusional about how that could possibly hurt this boy band. Their whataboutism is so strange and so is their vindictiveness towards writer they hate. I can’t think of any writer who wrote about BTS that hasn’t been attacked. You’re in good company.
Agreed. The crazier issue was they attacked her for basically saying she didn’t like hypocrites demanding her to defend BTS from racists, when she has already been consistently doing so for years on social media, print, and her blog. They literally took a one-off comment she made to someone and twisted that into their own sick narrative that she only talks about racism because they demand it. What on earth at they smoking? If she didn’t care about racism, if she didn’t care about the group, and if she wasn’t a fan herself, why would she devote all this time and effort into standing up for them and other Asians on a broader spectrum? For clout? Make it make sense. If she wanted clout, all she would do is say, “Slay! Best thing ever!” Some of these people are salty because she has offered bits of truth about the inner workings of US media and people choose not to believe it. But those of us who work in media know that what she said is true.
I’d like to say those kids are silly but, sadly, many of the worst ones are adults who should know better. They must lead sad, lonely lives to think the group they supposedly worship would approve of their behavior. The ones crying “performative activism” from behind their anonymous accounts were the worst ones who don’t know what activism even is. They don’t care about minorities or Koreans in the least. They’re the performative activists pretending. All they care about is their weird obsession with a group. I can’t wait for one of the members to get married. That’s when the weirdos will leave the fandom and those of us who truly love them for their music can have some peace from the immature and vindictive children who enjoy causing trouble.
I am appalled by the lack of common sense amongst the older generation. There was a large account who was involved in bullying you, Jae. She’s a doctor.
Everytime I hear someone say journalists are clout chasers. all I can think is what clout could you possibly be chasing from BTS fans? How does that following translate into any real-life help for you? It’s not like they support any of your non-BTS work. When you write an article about other K-pop bands, they ignore the article or harass you for that, too. The majority of your work is diverse and not targeted to BTS fans and is not BTScentric. So what do these people think you gain by having a lot of BTS fans following you? Honestly, with the way they behave, it seems like more of a disadvantage than an advantage.
I don’t think it should matter who writes it as long as it is well written. The person can be white, black, yellow, or purple! The aritcle is what matters! Just my personal opinion. No haters please.
By your theory then no BIPOC writer should get a chance to cover BTS because some white people have done a good job.
Jae did you see this from Chicago’s mayor? I don’t agree with a lot of her politics but she is on pointe about wanting more diversity in reporters who interview her, which is what you had said about BTS as well!
The president of South Korea specifically asked for more women journalists to ask him questions too. Everyone with a brain can see that having more diversity in coverage is a good thing. I don’t understand why BTS fans think having more diverse people interview them wouldn’t be good for all involved.
Kpop fans yell at everyone for everything. Don’t take wht they say as truth.
Mari Naomi just called out the NYT for excluding Asians in their coverage during APPI Heritage Month so it’s not like what you said is an anomaly. Rolling Stone wrote a good article but that’s not the point unless you’re just a stan that doesn’t give a fuck about Asians as long as BTS gets good coverage. The point is that Rolling Stone could’ve really made a positive statement and truly made it a historic cover. Korean band with a Korean photographer with an article written by an Asian American writer. That would have been historic!
Why are all these losers so obsessed with you? I don’t get it. What lonely ives they must lead, waiting for their oppars to notice them. Sad.
right?! No one in their right mind would think that oppars are going to love them for haranguing a Korean journalist who didn’t do anything wrong. But here we are.
haha and now all these fans who were attacking you for speaking out are angry with Rolling Stone because the entire issue isn’t dedicated to BTS. lmao They think RS is a fan magazine and must not have ever seen an issue before. When Taylor Swift is on the cover the entire issue wasn’t dedicated to her.
They’re all saying they’re going to cancel their preorders.😑 I don’t even know if they can but what a bunch of vindictive dummies. All they care about is their idol biases. They don’t care about the bigger picture at all. And if you disagree with them, then you’re an “anti” or a “clout chaser” or something else equally idiotic.
I find it amazing that the most rabidly rude people justify their behavior by saying you deserve to be harassed because you dare to like groups other than BTS. lol How stupid is that? They feel superior to you because they only obsess about one boy band. Epik High is greater than BTS on every level, except for commercial success. But money shouldn’t be the determining factor of artistic merit.
What I have learned from my interaction with stans is that none of them know a thing about journalism and almost all of them are happy with publicity-driven articles. They are quick to attack anyone who they see as undermining the success of their biases. They see nothing wrong with management and publicists determining the content of the articles as long as it says something nice about their “boys”. They are happy with white people covering minorities as long as the white people say something favorable. These stans are not our allies at all. Sorry for the double post. Please delete my earlier comment Ms. Kim!
Jesus you wrote a review right after surgery for cancer? You are the strongest person I know! Thank you for being such a wonderful role model. Also what kind of stupid editor do you have that he would forget that you had cancer?!
Unless we’re talking about BTS, people seem to agree that it makes sense for journalists who know what they’re talking about to write about subjects they have experienced. For instance a lot of people were saying that a Black or Asian woman with mental health disabilities should have written the Los Angeles Times piece about what Naomi Osaka went through at the French Open. As one Twitterer said: Perspective, culture & nuance matters. What I am getting from all the tweets I saw during this shameful dragging period is that BTS fans don’t care about anyone besides BTS. They don’t care about the Korean community and would gladly through an Asian person under the bus if that means their group gets a good writeup.
shut the fuck up, don’t think i forgot what you did
wtf is wrong with you? jimin would be ashamed of you!
LOL You have nothing better to do than drag this out? You’re an asshole. No one forgot that you bullied her for saying that the cover should have been written by an Asian-American writer. You are shameful!
Are you that bored that you have nothing better to do than make outrageous claims to strangers? She didn’t do anything wrong so how about you stfu?
Don’t forget that many of us are keeping track of fake Army like you.
It’s unfortunate that these people feel obligated to attack anyone who they think slighted BTS in any sort of way. So many of them say they don’t mind constructive criticism and personal opinions, but in reality, they can’t handle anything other than the most over the top hyperbole about how BTS is the best group ever when they simply are not. They are a good group. They do not have the artistic chops of groups that write their own lyrics and music without the aid of songwriters from overseas. Even with their Korean songs, BTS is supplemented by other songwriters. There is nothing wrong with that, but you simply cannot compare BTS to the greats who were musicians first and foremost, rather than idols who present themselves as true musical artists. You’ve got maybe two true songwriters in the group, but the other five are lacking in that area.
The worst are the Twitter nazis going around DEMANDING people unfollow because they personally dislike someone or that someone’s “bad” because they follow someone. How many of you followed +rump just to keeps tabs on what was going on? I did because he frightened me and I wanted to be aware of what he was up to to fight it!
A common criticism is that journalists write articles about BTS for clout or for money. lmao Journalists are paid to write about news. If BTS is news, then someone is going to write about them. If these delulus expect journalists to only write about BTS because of their love for them, they are asking them to write for free. How does one pay rent doing that? Do these complainers do their jobs for free because they are passionate about it? If not, why not? Aren’t they hypocrites for accepting money for a job they don’t care about? Why should doctors get paid then? Shouldn’t they only take care of people because they truly care about them? Oh wait, you can care about something and also get paid for doing your job.
Some of these people have serious mental issues. I might have some pity for them but can’t muster up much given how horrible they are and how much delight they take in being horrible bullies.
I came here for your reviews and saw this from earlier in the year and wow. All I can say is these people are pathetic. The most disappointing part of this is seeing other WOC, especially Korean and Korean Americans attacking you as if you’re the anti-christ. You’re a sweetheart to black out their names but I think it’s unnecessary. Gina Huh is one of the worst, supposedly a professional but is nothing more than a ridiculous stan who lacks critical thinking. The things she tweeted at you were so incredibly rude and presumptuous but that says more about her lack of professionalism than yours.
May I ask who this is?
A media “professional” who was pissed that Jae spoke up about another white man writing another cover article when Rolling Stone has Asian American staffers who could’ve written it. Her narrative is that Jae is jealous because she didn’t write it even after Jae explained multiple times that she is not a Rolling Stone employee and that their covers go to full time staff employees so she would never have written it anyways. So many people ignore those facts. Honestly to people like Gina the truth doesn’t matter. She just creates her own narrative. She would rather protect a white man than listen to one of her seniors.
Well that’s pretty much what the immature stans do right? They are willing to throw anyone under the bus if they think it was help “the boys” (cringe). That woman sounds like she has issues with internalized racism and sexism and is taking out her frustrations on Jae. I agree. There’s no reason why a white man should be writing these covers. It wasn’t that good tbh. It was rote and a repeat of what was said previously. Rolling Stone India did a much more thorough cover.
She’s an anti-Black woman who demanded that Megan thee Stallion thank BTS and basically said it was ARMY who made Megan’s career. lmao She’s been problematic for a while. You can see her tweet here
https://twitter.com/jina_huh/status/1438955973465497607
yikes that is horrible. As if Megan didn’t have a whole career before she ever met BTS.
Oh this bish has serious issue. We don’t claim her as being Korean. Look at how she talks down to Jae:
“How you speak about/to others will affect your professional relationships. Look at what you tweeted me. Why would I take the time to offer you perspective 1-on-1 when you were rude to me? Why talk down? Why unnecessarily repost an ARMY’s tweet-question to you on Instagram? +”
All these people expect to be treated gently with kid gloves while slandering others and spreading lies. I linked her self serving thread above. Jae wasn’t rude. I think Jina prob is a failure at her writing career and is a clout chaser riding the coattails of someone who has actually done the work.
Your tweet clearly said BIPOC STAFFERS. Everyone who says you or anyone else is jealous or complaining is a racist and sexist and probably stupid. There. I said it. If you or anyone else was jealous, so what? It doesn’t make what you said wrong. I am sorry army is being so hateful to you. They are losers, every one of them.
Sad little trolls. They are still using unrelated screenshots to prove their point, but every single one of them is too stupid to realize the screenshots don’t prove their points. They are using screenshots of you talking about diversity as a means to say you hate army and bts. I don’t understand their thought process at all. Then again they are not using their brain are they?
I don’t think they really care one way or the other about what Jae said. They just like the attention and clout they get from dragging someone who is popular. That’s the only way they can get validation maybe from their peers. It’s really sad when you think about it that they try so hard to get people to hate her but find that more won’t buy into their lies.
Can someone explain to me why stan twitter is sharing a shot of Jae saying that BIPOC should get opportunity to cover groups? They are sharing it as a way to “prove” that she’s immoral or something, but I don’t understand why the would think so. If anything, they are a bunch of weirdos for thinking BIPOC should not get opportunity to cover their own people.
Because they’re stupid and are listening to people who say that Jae doesn’t like BTS which is laughable. The screencaptures don’t say anything wrong and have nothing to do with the threads they are sharing them on. They are just spamming. All they are doing is proving how truly stupid they are. If you read some of their threads, they often admit they don’t know what’s going on but so and so told them to harass her and instead of trying to think for themselves they just follow along. Almost all of them are women. They’re really disgusting lowlifes.
They’re all literally jealous idiots.
Thank you both. They are just crazy.
I see, so everyone can scream and curse you out, but if you respond like a sane human being without kowtowing to them, then you are being rude and inconsiderate of their feelings. They expect you to be ultra polite to them. In other words they want to treat you like garbage and want you to just sit there quietly and take it. As we used to say in the 1980s, they are high and narcissistic. They are also garbage human beings. I did my own research and 99.99 percent of them are ugly liars.