So recently I've been listening to a lot of kpop thanks to a few suggestions and pleasant surprises. First it was 2pm when I found out I knew someone in the band and now its the wonder girls. Both bands are catchy and fun to listen to. on that note there has been a surge of publicity regarding the leader of 2pm, Park Jaebeom (Jay Park).
Earlier this year, a comment surfaced from his MySpace page where he expressed some negative comments about Korea and its citizens. After the comments surfaced, the korean population was outraged and wanted Jaebeom out of the group and even out of the country. They were so angered that there was a rally in front of the record label JYP entertainment where thousands gathered to protest against Jaebeom. Now, Jaebeom is back in America at his parents in the state of Washington. This has gotten so big even the local news reported a story on it. Fans all over the world are pleading for him to come back to the band and even ahs gone as far as holding flash mobs in places like Korea, Singapore and Malaysia. These groups of fans would begin dancing the choreography of the band's popular song "Again and Agian" when the clock strikes.. you guessed it, exactly 2:00 PM. Fans of Jaebeom in America all stress how this anger and hatred is childish, immature, outraegous and that the Korean public is overreacting. In some ways I think they are right because as humans we do ridiculous things. The comments were from when he first arrived in Korea in 2005 to train at the JYP Academy. Though Jaebeom is Korean, he was born and raised in Seattle, WA and didn't even speak a word of English when he went to Korea. Being alone in a country as foreign to him as any other non-Korean he most likely started having withdrawals and became homesick. His parents and friends were thousands of miles away so like any other emotional teenager, they resort to expressing their dislikes online.
It is truly unfortunate that his beginning frustrations came back to bite him but in all honesty it was a pretty dumb mistake. Some say that it was an invasion of privacy well its not really privacy if you set your account to public or add tons of fans as friends and giving them full access. Being such a big hit in Korea, diehard fans would for sure add him on MySpace and then try to learn as much as they can about him to further their obsession. It was only a matter of time until those comments became public. For all those who believe the Koreans are overreacting, ask yourself what would you do if one of our own celebrities said that in America. If Shakira ever said anything negative about the U.S. the American public would react just the same and rally against her. American flags would start flying up everywhere and thousands would start telling her to get out of this country. You think you wouldn't react like that but this didn't happen in your backyard did it? We all hear stories and think we would react differently but in reality, human responses are pretty much the same throughout the board. If the Beatles had ever said they hated America or Americans we would've sent him on the first place back to Liverpool. If Jackie Chan ever said anything we'd all tell him to go back to China. It's just how people are. When someone offends your home territory you automatically get angry and fight back. This is just human nature.
With all that said, I believe it will be nearly impossible for him to go back without hostility unless he has such a strong following that they out number the haters. The chances of that are slim and JYP as a company will probably not risk having all the fans split with his return. In the end, they are a business built on making young and attractive kids stars (Disney anyone?). I wish the best for Jay but if I were him I'd start looking into other venues.
