K Pop Band BTS Land in Controversy, ARMY to The Rescue

The globally popular boyband BTS is receiving backlash on social media in China after group leader RM appeared to praise a South Korean Olympian in an Instagram Story. RM, aka Kim Nam Joon, posted a video clip from Monday's disputed men's short-track 1,000 metres semi-finals at the Winter Olympics, in which Korea's Hwang Dae Heon took first place.

It created controversy as the world number two, Hwang was disqualified over physical contact with China's Li Wenlong during the race.

On his Instagram story, RM posted a short clip of Hwang with a clapping emoji. He didn’t write any caption. Many said that this was the rapper’s way of showing support for the nation’s players. Chinese fans were enraged and expressed their disappointment over the post.

As the comment section for RM’s solo account is disabled, angered people took to BTS’ official Instagram page and started posting mean remarks under its latest post. The remarks were extreme and many said that the band should never return to China. Even China's platform Weibo was flooded with such messages.

Many including the band’s fans, ARMYs came to the rescue and said that the matter was not as serious. Such extreme reactions were really not necessary. ARMYs shared positive comments for Namjoon on social media.