TXT’s fandom MOAs are expressing their frustration towards GQ Magazine after they released an interview with the group. On Twitter on March 15th, GQ posted a tweet that described the group as “the next BTS.” The said title was deemed negative as it actively pitted the two boy groups against each other, despite them being under the same company. In full, GQ wrote: “Their label wants them to be the next BTS. Their fans want to be them. But the five young members of TXT are really looking forward to having a cheeseburger.”
Deep into the content of the interview, GQ received another wave of backlash for using the word “hapa” to describe Huening Kai, a racist word that refers to mixed-race Hawaiian. The author was also under fire for miswriting Huening Kai’s name and using the phrase “a gang during middle school” instead of the proper “boy band” when mentioning Soobin.
The alleged source of inspiration for Taehyun’s idol dream was also a source of suspicion. In the report, GQ mentioned Taehyun’s inspiration as coming from a Chinese M/V, whereas, in real life, the idol frequently stated he drew it from SHINee’s performances.
When made aware of the errors, GQ adjusted the information and deleted the post on Twitter. However, MOAs are demanding an official apology from the magazine by trending the hashtags “#GQ_TXT” and “#GQ_apologize_to_TXT” on Twitter.
The magazine has not publicly responded to the situation and the author of the post has changed his social media accounts to private mode in light of fans’ backlash.
Source: Koreaboo
