Advertisement
K-pop, Mandopop, other Asian pop
LifestyleEntertainment

BTS fans defend K-pop band after YouTube star Ethan Klein brands their love for the band a ‘fetish’

  • Klein’s video created an eruption of thousands of angry tweets from K-pop fans calling his rant ‘homophobic’ and ‘sexist’
  • He made the remarks after reviewing YouTube’s most liked videos of 2019, where the BTS video Boy With Luv ranked second

Reading Time:2 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
0
K-pop boy band sensation BTS were the target of a Twitter rant from YouTube personality Ethan Klein. The spat has escalated over the past few days on social media. Photo: Handout
Jack Lau

A feud has erupted in the Twitterverse this week after YouTube personality Ethan Klein criticised K-pop giants BTS in a video that the boy band’s fans have slammed as “homophobic” and “sexist”.

“It’s like a little fetish – a little twink gay fetish about these K-pop boys,” the commentator on internet trends and popular culture said when reviewing YouTube’s most liked videos of 2019. The BTS video for Boy With Luv (featuring Halsey) ranked second in the music video category.

“How did this become a thing in Western culture, where all these grown men or little girls are j***ing off to little K-pop boys?” he asked.

Klein – who posts under the name h3h3Productions – came under fire in thousands of tweets defending the K-pop stars, making #h3h3isoverparty one of the top trending hashtags in the United States.

Hours later, #BanKpopAccounts emerged as a top trending hashtag after it came out in support of Klein and criticised obsessive K-pop fans.

In reply, K-pop fans started tagging videos and GIFs of K-pop groups to #BanKpopAccounts.

Advertisement