The truth about the recent controversies surrounding BLACKPINK’s Jennie and Lisa
Recently, a post titled 'Jennie is mocked and becomes the target of racism by Thai media because of Lisa's Southeast Asian fans' went viral, causing a stir among netizens.
Recently, another post appeared on Tistory claiming that the earlier post was made up by an anti-fan to deliberately incite hatred against BlackPink Lisa and Southeast Asians.
So what is the truth? Is it true that the post claiming BlackPink Jennie faced racist and hateful comments from Thai media was fabricated by an anti fan?
<1. Thai Enquirer is a media outlet that often reports junk news?>
The Thai newspaper reported that “Lisa could not attend Paris Fashion Week because YG did not allow her to” and included the hashtag #Jennie on the post on their official Twitter account. Fans then got mad at Jennie’s name being mentioned even though she had nothing to do with the incident. They left many comments asking the tweet to be taken down but were ignored.
So is Thai Enquirer indeed like what the Tistory post claimed? Most of Thai Enquirer’s articles are normal and they are categorized into the same categories as Korean newspapers. If you read a few articles here, you can see that they are reported on the basis of official news and data. The editorials also make very clear political stances.
Conclusion: If you know English, you can see that it is not a pseudo-media channel, but almost like a political newspaper.
<2. SMOOTH E is an unknown shampoo brand in Thailand?>
SMOOTH E was founded by a Thai doctor in 1990. Starting out with scar cream, the brand has produced many different kinds of shampoos and creams. Currently, its products are not only consumed domestically but are also sold on the American online retailer Amazon.
An advertising agency hired by this brand “accidentally” promoted a malicious tweet attacking Jennie. Although it might have been a mistake, the customers of SMOOTH E were still the target who saw the ad.
The ad should have been removed immediately, but it wasn’t. Besides, a coincidence is that this is a hateful tweet in 2018. 2018 was the year when Jennie had to receive the most criticism from Southeast Asian anti fans. The reason why this is suspicious is that the process of advertising on Twitter is not simple.
Advertisers select the tweet of the account where the ad will be placed -> Make a choice on promotion method -> Country and time zone settings -> Contact info -> Billing info
Conclusion: SMOOTH E is not an anonymous brand, instead it is a well-known cosmetic brand. The promoted tweet could have been a mistake, but in this case it is still suspicious.
<3. @siamdaranews, the newspaper that tweeted about Jennie’s malicious rumors, is similar to the Korean channel Garo Sero Institute?>
Siamdara news’s YouTube channel has 100,000 subscribers and is still constantly updating new posts on Facebook. According to some Thai, since the article was published, this newspaper has become more popular.
Even if it’s a small newspaper, it doesn’t mean that bad rumors have never been published. The fact that Jennie was the victim remains unchanged. It is not uncommon for malicious rumors of Korean idols to be posted on Thai entertainment media outlets.
Conclusion: Siamdara news is not like Garo Sero Institute, it is just a Hollywood-style entertainment media. Not to mention the level of credibility, the important thing is that the malicious rumors were spread for many people to see, and Jennie was the victim.
<4. Why is Lisa the only one who didn’t attend Paris Fashion Week?>
Of course, brands would want their ambassadors to appear at every event they hold. But as the management company, YG will decide if the event is appropriate for Lisa to attend. If it’s not an important event like a seasonal fashion week or a big premiere, but just a lingerie collaboration show, YG probably won’t prioritize it. Also, Lisa could have had her own schedule, so it’s possible that Bvlgari used the pandemic as an excuse.
Conclusion: Lisa not attending fashion events in Paris is not YG being discriminatory against the foreign member like what her Southeast Asian fans claim. Chances are she had other solo schedules or she was on vacation with her family.
<5. All this fuss is due to fans’ dissatisfaction with Lisa’s solo promotions>
YG is not a company that allows artists to have a lot of activities, which always makes fans upset. But apart from this, there are still people questioning whether YG’s promotion for Lisa’s solo activities is actually that bad, to the point it is called discriminatory treatment towards foreigners. Jennie first appeared on a television broadcast 2 weeks after her solo release. Rosé made her solo debut a month after the song’s pre-release and her promotion was also very short.
Even so, Lisa’s Southeast Asian fans still claim that Korea is racist against foreign idols. As the fans’ dissatisfaction with Lisa’s solo promotions was piling up, the news of 3 Korean members going to Paris and the Instagram post of Bvlgari’s CEO only added more fuel to the fire.
As a result, Lisa Bar and several fanbases in China announced a boycott of BLACKPINK’s future activities. Lisa’s fans don’t hesitate to declare that they put Lisa above BLACKPINK. Not only BlackPink, they even flood the mentions under the tweets related to other YG artists to ask YG to treat Lisa better.
This obviously does not mean that all Southeast Asian fans unite unconditionally to hinder and hate on the Korean members. There are definitely many Southeast Asian fans who support and protect the Korean members. However, this number cannot be compared with Lisa’s Southeast Asian large fandom. Anyone who uses Twitter or is interested in K-pop knows that 5 million hashtags is by no means a small number. Among those 5 million, there are tweets claiming that Korean entertainment companies discriminate against foreign members. The climax of the incident was that MTV Argentina also joined the hashtag on their official account.
Conclusion
There are akgaes (toxic individual fans) everywhere, and it is true that groups with a large international fandom like BLACKPINK can cause this kind of situation to be even more serious. However, no fandom is as “self-sustaining” as Lisa’s Southeast Asian fandom, and nowhere is there such a fandom that hates Korean members so persistently and fiercely.
Sources: pann
