The Winter Olympics in Beijing began on February 4 and will run until February 20. Many Korean folks, including BTS’s leader RM, are watching the Winter Olympics and cheering on the Korean athletes competing.
However, after RM posted a brief Instagram video of the short track race in favour of South Korea, BTS’ Instagram was flooded with hateful comments directed at the global K-pop group’s leader.
The semifinals for the short ice track 1000m race were held on February 7. Hwang Dae Heon was the first athlete to cross the finish line in the men’s 1000m semi-final group 1 race on this day. Hwang Dae Heon, who led till the finish despite the Chinese skaters’ relentless offence, was unable to progress to the finals because the referee awarded him a disputed penalty for making an illegal late pass that made contact.
BTS’ RM, however, voiced his support and cheered for the Korean short-track skater, posting an Instagram storey clip of the skater crossing the finish line first. The brief video also featured clapping and thumbs-up emoticons.
That must have enraged some Chinese internet users, as they went to BTS’ official Instagram account and made threatening comments with emoticons like the ‘throw up’ emoji and the middle finger emoji.
Because BTS members’ personal Instagram profiles only accept comments from those they follow, these Chinese internet users went to BTS’ official Instagram account and left a slew of hateful remarks.
Many Korean netizens were baffled by this entire scenario, as they didn’t understand why people were flocking to BTS’ social media to vent their rage on the group. Many Korean netizens pointed out that it was South Korea that had been treated unfairly as their squad had been erroneously disqualified.
South Korean netizens reacted to BTS’ Instagram being terrorised. One of them commented, “I really don’t know why they’re taking it out on RM or BTS,” while the other one wrote, “RM is King because he still shows support no matter what malicious comments he gets.” Not surprisingly, the third one chimed in, “Since BTS is global I’m glad they don’t have to care about the Chinese market.”
