South Korean pop star Crush came under fire for allegedly being racist to his fans. A clip of Crush extending his hand towards fans and then withdrawing it went viral, and the social media user who shared the original clip alleged that he had pulled away on seeing his dark skin colour.
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In light of the furore, Crush quickly put out an apology which read, “Hi everyone, I just wanted to address the issue revolving around the audience interaction from my performance last night at the 2022 Someday Pleroma Festival. I’ve been away for roughly two years and being able to perform on stage with my dearest fans in the audience was such an unforgettable and long-awaited experience, so I naturally and instinctively walked towards and reached down to the crowd.”
He continued, “To avoid further misunderstanding, I would like to explain that I had to refrain from giving out high-fives with the fans in particular sections as a safety precaution, fans were getting too close to the fences, holding up the audience section and I saw that those in the front row were getting pushed against the fence so I made a quick judgment not to approach for the safety of fans. I sincerely apologise for the misunderstanding that my actions may have caused. I love each and every one of my fans, and I would never discriminate nor favour anyone.”
However, social media did not accept this apology and what enraged many was that BTS’ rapper J-Hope, who had collaborated with Crush recently, liked the post. While many ARMYs rushed to defend J-Hope from the onslaught and said that he did not deserve the backlash, others expressed their disappointment. “Hobi needs to stop liking everything he saw on the TL because the way he liked Crush’s post was not it,” one wrote. Another strongly defended J-Hope and wrote, “All of you throwing Hobi under the bus were literally waiting for the day he makes a mistake. How can you conclude that he’s siding with Crush?”
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One added, “Crush’s post wasn’t even about apologising for his racism because nowhere he mentioned, how was Hobi supposed to know?” One wrote, “As much as I love Hobi, I’m not excusing him for liking that post. If it was something he blindly liked, he needs to understand how dangerous it can be for someone with his influence to do that and he needs to pay attention to what he’s liking, because it makes him complacent. As black ARMY, I feel like BTS members need to start vetting the artists they collaborate with in the future, because we can’t keep going with the ‘hey they didn’t know’ excuse.” This isn’t the first time Crush has faced accusations of racism, he had earlier come under fire for doing blackface at a reality show.
J-Hope and Crush have shared a close rapport for years, and recently came out with the song Rush Hour. J-Hope is yet to address the subject.
