K-Pop Songwriter’s Racist Tweets Spark Outrage
Jenny Hyun, the co-songwriter behind Girls’ Generation‘s “How Great is Your Love” and Chocolat‘s “One More Day” recently sparked controversy with a slew of racist tweets.
On February 16, the former singer posted over a dozen derogatory comments on her Twitter against African-Americans. The fuel for her outrage? A dismissive tweet by boxer Floyd Mayweather about NBA star Jeremy Lin:”Jeremy Lin is a good player but all the hype is because he’s Asian. Black players do what he does every night and don’t get the same praise.”
Hyun responded that Floyd was a “subhuman, ungrateful APE,” and then started spreading vitriol about the black community in general. She insinuated that Whitney Houston‘s recent passing wasn’t such a loss because of “all that baggage” she came with, and referred to African-Americans as “disgusting, violent, arrogant, and stupid.” Then, in an even more frightening twist, she repeatedly called for the eradication of the entire black race:
- “Eradication of one toxic family is exactly what this world needs.”
- “Think about all the money we would save not having to give their never ending charities, replacing a black worker with any other race.”
- “We don’t know what it’s like with them not here. But imagine a world with NO BLACK PEOPLE. All the tension in every aspect of life would be drastically improved without them around. And ONLY them.”
K-Pop fans started to tweet her to tell her to stop. Following the angry tweets she received, Hyun protected her Twitter account and then posted an apology of sorts on her blog. The sincerity of her apology left something to be desired, as she prefaced it with an explanation that people were saying they knew where she lived, and followed it up with a statement that she did not regret what she said. She also posted a blog entry with a meme that read “I regret nothing,” as well as another meme that compared a modest hut in Africa to a picture of the Roman Empire 2000 years ago, ostensibly in order to draw a contrast between the quality of the two civilizations.
Later that day, she also tweeted, “I Love KFC #YaHeard” and “This is not Black America, THIS IS ASIA AMERICA.” As of now, the “apology” has been removed from her site, while the memes remain.
UPDATE: Check out our new article which gives more information as to what happens next here.
K-pop would not exist the same way as today if there were no black culture, and especially African American culture as well. Blues, ragtime, jazz, rock' n' roll, soul, funk, r&b, and hip hop didn't came from a vacuum. Those genres were made by black American culture, and those genres pretty much influenced most of our music today and almost all over the world. I guess she didn't acknowledge some music history for this. In biology, I learned that diversity is the key for living organisms (including humans) to maintain strong immunity. Without diversity, we humans can get sick and die off easily. Oh yes, there are people who are schizophrenic, and at the same time not racist.