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Wed, April 21, 2021 | 07:45
Racism paints K-pop into corner
한류에 찬물 끼얹는 K-pop속 인종차별
Posted : 2013-11-26 16:52
Updated : 2013-11-26 16:52
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Min, a member of miss A, came under criticism last month for posting the top photo on her Instagram account. In the above photo, K-pop group BEAST member Lee Gi-kwang with his face painted black voraciously eats a piece of watermelon during a comedy show aired in July 2010. There are many other K-pop musicians who have gotten their face painted black in order to entertain their fans, reflecting the racial insensitivity that exists in the K-pop scene. / Korea Times file
Min, a member of miss A, came under criticism last month for posting the top photo on her Instagram account. In the above photo, K-pop group BEAST member Lee Gi-kwang with his face painted black voraciously eats a piece of watermelon during a comedy show aired in July 2010. There are many other K-pop musicians who have gotten their face painted black in order to entertain their fans, reflecting the racial insensitivity that exists in the K-pop scene. / Korea Times file

Artists insensitive to blacks; roots date before start of 'hallyu'


By Park Si-soo

Min, a member of miss A, came under criticism last month for posting the top photo on her Instagram account. In the above photo, K-pop group BEAST member Lee Gi-kwang with his face painted black voraciously eats a piece of watermelon during a comedy show aired in July 2010. There are many other K-pop musicians who have gotten their face painted black in order to entertain their fans, reflecting the racial insensitivity that exists in the K-pop scene. / Korea Times file
K-pop artists' bigotry threatens to defray the main genre of "hallyu" or Korean wave.

Last month, Min, a member of popular girl band miss A, landed in hot water for posting a photoshopped image on her Instagram account that showed big black American rapper Rick Ross' head on the body of a woman in a tight dress.

A caption with image of fried chicken says "Rick Ross — 24 pieces are not enough."

Min deleted the image after protests of racism. Min's photo offends black people, reminding them of a practice prior to the Emancipation and reinforcing a stereotypical image about colored people.

JYP Entertainment, handler of Min and her group, argued, "Min posted it without any malicious intent. She had no intention of causing a racial discrimination controversy."

In August, G-Dragon posted a selfie of his black-painted face onto his Instagram account. YG Entertainment claimed that it was not a political or racial statement."

In February, Korean-American K-pop songwriter and singer Jenny Hyun set off a racial conflict on Tweeter by expressing her racial bigotry against black people. She was later confirmed to have been suffering from psychiatric problems.

Such acts or language deal a critical blow to K-pop's hard-won international popularity. Major K-pop musician incubators — SM, YG and JYP — have yet to provide its musicians with systematic anti-racism education programs.

"Why is K-pop so racist towards people of color?" a user of Asianfanfics asked in an article posted in June on the all-English social fan fiction website. Introducing themselves as Ghanaian, the author argued that K-pop musicians are "just being ignorant and probably need to be taught about colored people."

The user went on, "First of all, non-colored people really need to stay out of it because they do not know the utter devastation it puts a person like me in, to find out that people of ‘my kind' are degraded and laughed at as a form of entertainment for others."

In another article posted on kpopsecrets regarding Jenny Hyun's racist rant, an African girl who introduced herself as a K-pop lover, said, "For this reason, a lot of black fans have actually left the K-pop fandom and I really don't blame them." She said, "I don't feel like K-pop artists pay attention to the black demographic of their fans and this is just further proof."

The problem is that racism dates further back than K-pop.

"Racial discrimination and prejudice can exist in any country throughout the world," prominent Korean-American hip-hop musician Tiger JK said in a contributing article to the all-English K-pop news outlet allkpop in March last year.

"Korea is currently enjoying attention around the world with the K-pop phenomenon along with other human resources. If we learn a little more about the history of Africans, we could understand why it's not right to present them as comic objects because their history contains a lot of pain, deadly revolutions and struggles to regain their human dignity."

The rare contribution by Tiger JK came when the country's second biggest broadcaster MBC was wrestling with intense criticism at home and abroad for airing two female comedians — Lee Kyung-shil and Kim Ji-sun — who parodied Michol, a Korean cartoon character inspired by Michael Jackson, during a prime time comedy show with both covered in black makeup.

The controversy surrounding the show started with an online posting by an angry African-American who watched it on the Internet. The posting inspired various American websites to carry video and photo files of Korean celebrities' blackface acts, fueling the racial conflict.

MBC managed to quell the collective anger with a formal apology, but the incident revealed how much Korean celebrities are ignorant when it comes to racial discrimination. Prior to this, many other celebrities, including K-pop musician Lee Gi-kwang, a member of K-pop boy band BEAST, and four-member girl band Bubble Sisters, performed a skit in blackface on TV or on concert stages.

Experts say Korea's blackface comedy dates back to the 1980s when comedians performed skits, wearing Rasta wigs with painted faces. Despite its racist subtext, the genre of domestic comedy wasn't exposed to local criticism — until K-pop started grabbing worldwide attention.

K-pop's global "fanscape" is well demonstrated in the results of an online poll CJ E&M, Korea's largest entertainment conglomerate, conducted last month to shortlist candidates for the firm's year-end music awards, which were held in Hong Kong, Friday. More than 10 million people from 191 countries cast ballots in the online poll.


한류에 찬물 끼얹는 K-pop속 인종차별

한류가수들의 인종차별에 대한 무감각함이 확산일로에 있는 한류에 찬물을 끼얹고 있다.

지난달 미쓰에이에 맴버 민은 자신의 인스타그램 계정에 미국출신 흑인래퍼 Rick Ross의 얼굴을 미니스커트를 입은 여성의 몸에 합성한 사진을 올려 인종차별이라는 곤욕을 치렀다. 문제의 사진 하단에는 “Rick Ross는 치킨다리 24개로는 모자라”라는 설명까지 첨부했다. 이 사진을 본 팔로워들이 인종차별이 아니냐며 항의했고 논란이 가속화 되지 민은 문제의 사진을 삭제했다.

논란이 계속 확산되지 JYP엔터테인먼트는 “악의로 그런 것은 아니다”라는 내용의 해명자료며 진화에 나섰다. 이에 앞선 8월 지드래곤도 검정색으로 칠한 자신의 얼굴을 촬영한 사진을 자신의 인스타그램에 올렸다가 곤욕을 치른 경험이 있다.

이러한 사진은 인터넷을 통해 전세계로 퍼졌고 그 결과 해외의 한류 팬들이 한국음악에 등을 돌리는 결과를 낳고 있다. 그럼에도 불구하고 SM, YG, JYP등 주요 기획사들은 소속 가수들에게 인종차별에 관련된 예방교육을 실시하고 있지 않고 있다.

“왜 K-pop은 흑인들에게 그토록 차별적인 건가요?” 지난 6월 한 가나에 사는 여성이 Asianfanfics라는 웹사이트에 올린 질문이다. 그녀는 한국가수들은 흑인들에 대해 “너무 모른다”며 이와 관련된 교육을 받아야 한다고 주장했다.
Emailpss@koreatimes.co.kr Article ListMore articles by this reporter









 
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