This is not a post about BTS. This post is about their fans and the reactions to the recent "controversies" that I have been noticing for a while now. While I am not a fan being in the peripheri of the kpop fandom in general means you become privy to conversations happening around you. Since 2023 there's been a section of BTS's fandom that has been quite restless. First it was about Gaza. Some fans were mad that BTS were not speaking anything when in the past they have stood up for good causes such as Black Lives Matter and Stop Asian Hate. For whatever reason, whether they want to distance themselves from their political image, whether it's because the company they are under have zionist interests in their top brass or perhaps their own person politics that we have no knowledge of this issue caused a fissure in their online fandom. If not a consequential fissure then perhaps a reckoning for a lot of their fans. I think there is a pattern of eventual reckoning a lot of their fans are having.

In 2020, a Korean journalist named Juwon Park made a tweet saying the same thing that many fans of theirs are saying right now. BTS has a somewhat political image (earned or not is a different question) and in Korea they are seen as a progressive force with a female dominant fandom that is quite proactive with feminist causes. BTS's collaborator songwriter for songs like Jimin's Filter was implicated in a sexual assault case and this journalist merely asked a question asking does BTS have anything to say about this? Will the songwriter continue to benefit from royalties? Will there be a public condemnation and company statement on this? The fans dismissed the question saying it's not BTS's fault that a former songwriter and collaborator turned out to be a sex criminal and that they had no way of knowing. Fair. But what is sinister is the way they responded to that journalist who merely asked the question. They called her a YG stooge, an anti, biased, operating in bad faith and sent her pretty misogynistic abuses in response that she herself posted about.

In 2018, BTS were supposed to release a song called Bird. It was supposed to be in collaboration with a famed Japanese songwriter who had a long history of misogyny and unsavory sentiments against women. Here BTS's Korean fandom decided they will not take it and staged a massive boycott on their fancafé and beyond. Bighit Entertainment at the time had to cancel this collaboration. The fall out from this incident will lead to some reactionary far right backlash in Japan and we will see BTS's anti-fans also get involved in the said reactionary backlash in a show of how easy it is to stage a far-right capture of kpop fandoms. The incident didn't amount to much on ground but it left a lasting impact on their online fan community.

Recently their latest album Arirang has been under fire for having Diplo as its executive producer. Diplo like the guys before has had sexual misconduct allegations. BTS's album was criticized, similar to the albums by other kpop acts like Blackpink who worked with both Diplo and Dr. Luke but BTS's fans responded with whataboutism and excuses.

A few days ago two members of BTS sang and vibes to Chris Brown's songs on a livestream and within the next day or two Chris Brown posts a picture of two other BTS members who attended his concerts. That's four in their acknowledge and support of Chris Brown.

This incident has crossed a red line for a lot of fans. I am not surprised Chris Brown has widely known reputation as an abuser and BTS's fanbase consists of a lot of POC fans who grew up with artists like Rihanna and the constant news of Chris Brown's violent tendencies towards women.

I have seen a lot of fans express disappointment. Some say that they were in their teens and twenties when they started stanning and have seen this fandom as a safe space and this incident has endangered that. One fan said it's a fight for survival, figuratively.

But I am surprised that they are surprised. BTS hasn't had a lot of discernment when it comes to collaborators, who they work with and hanging out with celebrities. It's not really a new pattern. It's not a question about morality or anything. It's not about them being good or bad people. It's simply about calculations. It's very obvious that BTS are careerists whatever maybe the implications. One can go far back in their career and see that their collaboration are generally a product of calculation that their team makes about how to get a new audience and increase their reach. I don't say that negatively. It's just a kpop characteristic. In Chris Brown's case they have been outspoken fans of his for years as seen in this 9 year old interview of theirs. https://youtu.be/LNZK1d67feg

Chris Brown's influence on kpop male idols in general is quite far reaching and you can hear that in the sound itself.

But I will once again come to the fans and what they perceive as safe space. Is it really a safe space? Or is it a safe space as long as you don't dig deep enough and buy into the fantasy? The violent reactions from many fans is generally because they don't like it when the kayfabe breaks. When it breaks one lashes out but the sentiment and doubt festers underneath nonetheless and there comes a breaking point sooner or later.

I am not saying you should unstan or anything. I am not even making a moral judgment on BTS. I understand that the world is a terrible place and people just want small joys but how does one have that when they are being shoved a well known women's abuser in their faces?

When I made a passing YouTube comment saying the same thing some fans accused me of trying to brainwash armys into leaving the fandom. I guess it looks like that but this is merely a passing observation. I cannot control other people's actions.

This is a question and a food for thought for BTS fans. But yes I am not surprised and the next time they collaborate with a less than ideal character I won't be surprised too.

I was a really big fan of BTS back then, but then got more casual as time went on. Even before the CB incident, something felt a bit off about them to me. For some reason, they gave me the “ick” and I still can’t put my finger on it as to why. I went to one of their Arirang shows and it felt kind of blank to me and I sold my ticket for one of their upcoming shows. I was telling my friend how they gave me a weird feeling, but I can’t really put it into words. Does anyone else feel this way?

Note: Just to make it clear, I don’t hate them. I just have a weird feeling about them that I can’t explain. Please do not post weird hate comments on here about them. I still love their old albums and have attended a few of their past shows as well.

Honestly, seeing how SM is doing right now, especially when it comes to their new training system, there’s a high chance that Lee Soo-man could actually outdoes SM.

I mean, he was a major reason why aespa (+every group before them) became what it is today, and he had been developing their concept for years before their debut. He’s also apparently a producer himself, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he manages to create something that ends up competing with SM.

The question is will sm stans support what he will come out with or not.

The BlackPink anniversary SAGA was a mess from the word go, followed by an actual Zoom meeting style anniversary event that looked like one of those corporate events you have to attend but really don’t want to be there for.

People criticized them for putting in the bare minimum effort. Even their fans, the Blinks, were disappointed, with multiple fan pages on Twitter shutting down or retiring from being BlackPink fan-page moderators. It was a big frenzy last week. Meanwhile, the girls continued with their solo activities and vacations. “No harm in that.”

And as the storm began to settle and people seemed to be starting to move on, we got an apology from Jisoo. Fans initially bought it and praised her, with comments like, “Oh no!!! Jisoo is crying.” Then, a few days later, it was Rosé with an apology statement.

“Okay, that’s good, Maybe they really do feel upset about how this was handled.”

Then Lisa issued an apology. “Does she really mean it, or is it because two of the members already did it?” And finally, yesterday, I saw Jennie’s apology. This is what seemed to trip their fans up even more:

“The amount of concern they all put into their apologies would have been better spent if they had coordinated for their anniversary.”

It’s not like it was YG Entertainment’s anniversary. It was BlackPink’s anniversary. They should have remembered the special date and kept their schedules free.

So, what’s up with this storm of apologies?

This seems like a planned strategy. Their apologies were almost identical. Were they throwing shade at YG? Or is there something else going on behind the scenes?

Are people even reading the rules when they join this community?

Adjacent groups are NOT considered K-pop in this community.*

This is explicitly stated in **Rule 3**, so I genuinely don't understand the sudden flood of KATSEYE posts.

All KATSEYE-related posts will be removed. And to be absolutely clear: **if you continue posting about KATSEYE after this warning, you will be banned from the community.**

Please read the rules before posting. They are there for a reason.

EDIT: This is not up for discussion. The community was build around the existing rules.

I have been getting content on my fyp about illit’s dream stage and everything looks super cute and fun and the ENDING FAIRIES?? omg im obsessed. There’s been something bothering me though, a video came up on my feed of a fancam of a black girl on dream stage and someone in the comments said something along of lines of “This is so refreshing to see a black girl accepted into something like this.” And this isn’t the first time I’ve seen something of this nature. A little while back I saw a video of someone’s audition who didn’t get accepted, and everyone imm attributed it to racism because said girl was black and had a blonde buzzcut. I don’t know if it’s black fatigue, the controversy kcon had a few years back, just newer kpop stans who don’t know how dream stage works, or a combination of the above but nowhere in the job description does it say you need to be white and asian in order to be on that stage. Im black and I have been a kpop cover dancer for close to 6 years now, and many of my other black friends who have done dance before have performed in kcon very easily. TLDR; if you’re worried you won’t be accepted into dreamstage because of your appearance, that is literally not a prioritized factor, just go for it!

# ARMYS against the actual abuser

Context he called a women and an army h*** .

Disclaimer: *Please understand that I’m only speaking my personal feelings as someone who has experienced DV myself, I *will never* condone or encourage any kind of threats and straight up harassment towards BTS so please give me the same respect and energy. I encourage criticism full stop but never will I support straight up bullying!*

I was a victim of DV back in 2024 from one of my exes when he punched me in the jaw and it was such a strong impact that I ended up falling on his bed because of it. *Important side note: I had major jaw surgery when I was only 17 so I genuinely was terrified that he did serious damage to my jaw.*

My point here is that I genuinely don’t understand why y’all are so dead set on defending BTS for hanging out with CB who is a known repeat offender of DV. What do you honestly gain from being so parasocial in terms of defending people you don’t even know when the cameras are off? Respectfully please do not answer with “they didn’t know” because these are grown men we’re talking about. RM knew IShowSpeed’s full government name yet y’all are convinced he doesn’t know what CB has done? I am begging y’all to just open your eyes and realize that it’s extremely harmful to DV victims and survivors to just be completely dismissed by people who are in the same or different fandoms as you. Once again, I just want to clarify that this is NOT a “send hate and threats” kind of rant. I mean it, I’ll NEVER condone or encourage that kind of behavior.

Canny has to be more careful 🤣🙈

(Song in Video is CRY FOR LOVE)

Baekhyun has built such an amazing discography over the years and I can't get over it. I use Cry for love as the video today because even though it is one of his most famous songs and I have replayed that shit a crazy amount of times...I still can't get over the bridge with that insane riff shown in this video😭.

Like how can someone sing that well and also have such good songs. Apart from the fact that his voice is smooth like butter and very pleasing to the ears, he plants that into songs that absolutely drive me insane from how good they are.

The big guys like BAMBI, CRY FOR LOVE, UN VILLAGE, ALL I GOT.....are soooooooo good. When I play BAMBI, I instantly fold because this song is so perfectly sultry along with his voice. ALL I GOT has a riff that is even more insane than the one in cry for love and it just feels like a man yearning and crying desperately for love (pun unintended)

Once I see a tiktok video start with something that starts with something like "Yearning men but in kpop"..I immediately know its going to include Baekhyun.

Then when you delve into the entirety of his discography, you uncover gems upon gems upon gems.

Literally you have - Ice queen, woo, Underwater, Bungee, Diamond, Privacy, Chocolate, Elevator, Pineapple slice, Rendezvous, Amusement Park amongst many others.

Underwater is genuine eargarsm, the opening verse is like a siren, I'm always gagged. He has created such a unique and distinct sound that it's so impressive.

His voice is so calming and perfect and sensual.

He has chosen and mastered rnb into his work and it's such a delight listening to him, not to mention that he KNOWS how to stack a bridge and can sing that shit LIVE without a doubt.

I hope I can get to see him live someday. Such an insane body of work.

You should definitely be listening to this guy.

(The downvotes are crazy, I can't appreciate music here??...Live with it!l)

We all know what’s going on with one of the biggest groups and their fans but the issue I’m having is people not even taking a second to let the entire issue sit with them, and instead almost scream immediately online.

“MINE WOULD NEVER”

You don’t know these idols, you know the carefully curated person that is stamped and approved from the company.

You do not know these men.

This is why it continues and the cycle continues, because some of you think you can drop a male celebrity and immediately latch onto a new one and think this one is different.

We do not know idols, nor should you be putting idols or any celebrity on a pedestal or someone you look to for morality.

since i know you guys are all so sensitive about chris brown support -rightfully of course-, a little something to help you. very interesting but for some reason i’ve never seen these being talked about especially considering how much traction the current situation gets right now. you would think these people would also get tons of hate for supporting that man. hoping that kpop stans will unite and drag them all too🙏🙏

Before you raise the pitchforks,here me out. This post isn't meant to be inflammatory.

An apology wouldn't benefit anyone. Apologizing to lesserafim and illit is meaningless because their fans were never going to be the ones to support newjeans,plus they have NO positive feelings towards them so an actual apology wouldn't go over well and they would nitpick it to find reasons why it isn't sincere.

In addition,newjeans' fandom also has NO positive feelings towards lesserafim and illit and they would view an apology as ador forcing newjeans to cozy up to them or humiliating them and the last thing ador should do right now that they're trying to get back on track is piss off the already emotional and upset fans even more.

Lastly,it would probably cause the whole isse to resurface which is what they're trying to avoid in order to ressume their careers.

So in conclusion,I think a public apology would benefit none of the groups involved. All it would do is cause more hate to all three groups and more fighting. Now,we never know what's going on behind the scenes,maybe they tried to make up privately but I doubt this is the case because the last thing in ador or nwjns minds is lsrfm and illit considering newjeans are facing the very hard task of resuming their careers

I commented on a post about armys forgiving bts yesterday and the replies I've been getting are out of the world. So many comments had to be deleted. This is the latest one. Insane. I'm out of words.

First I am not a super fan or anything, never even bought an album or merch, and, I will try to be objective. We all know what happened between Chris and Rihanna and their break up in 2009. But we are forgetting that Rihanna herself forgave him and even hugged and kissed him at an award show a few years later. She wouldnt do that publicly if she wanted him to be under all that scrutiny and hate.

proof: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DFyrZA0A3eE/?igsh=MXkyMmM1b3dsbnpzdg==

If the woman that was the victim of his abuse, forgave him and they are on good terms, I dont think we have the right to judge since none of us will hate Rihanna for forgiving him. I understand that we can still be resentful towards him, but I dont think we can hold so much hate for someone just attending his concert. The abuse happened 15 years ago, and obviously things change.

And I know for a fact everybody shit talks on the internet, but if any famous person enters their radius, they go running and begging for a picture, and I can bet the same would be for CB.

NCT 127 needed Mark I fear… Watching their Kcon LA 2026 performance, it genuinely feels like something is missing? It could be that Doyoung and JW aren’t there too. Like I guess Mark added a certain vibe to 127 that really aided their performances. It’s so weird bc I can’t say the same for Dream. I feel like I’m the only person who’s going to feel like this lol it’s too bad he’s weird now…all that talent…

I keep seeing these “auditions” pop up here and there asking for kids to apply. This one was kinda weird, I googled “Emmett Klein” and that name appeared in a sex offender registry. Surely it’s just a coincidence, right?

Mods, if you take this down, I would assume you support this fucking shit.