GLOBAL — Fans of K-pop have emerged as the unlikely heroes of the day as they hijacked #whitelivesmatter and #bluelivesmatter hashtags on Twitter with a steady stream of videos and memes of groups such as BTS, Blackpink and EXO, drowning out any unsavoury racist content and disrupting efforts to target Black Lives Matter groups.
This was not the first time that K-pop fans have come out en masse to support the Black Lives Matter movement.
On May 31, the Dallas Police put out an app that invited users to upload videos of “illegal activity from the protests.” K-pop fans quickly mobilized by uploading fancams of their favorites and took the app offline, with the Dallas Police later tweeting that the app was down due to “technical difficulties.”
It should come as no surprise considering the highly organized nature of K-pop fans. When a group releases a new video or new song, fans mobilize to get relevant hashtags trending and often push said content to the top of streaming platforms. They are occasionally seen as a nuisance as they often hijack trending hashtags with irrelevant content, but this is a time when such nuisances are welcomed.
K-pop stars have come out in support of the Black Lives Matter movement despite being far away from the events surrounding the death of George Floyd. Popular group BTS tweeted in Korean and English that they stood against racial discrimination and condemned the violence. CL of disbanded superstar group 2NE1 wrote a lengthy Instagram post detailing the influence of black musicians and artists on K-pop and urged fans and artists to speak out.
