[JF21�]

hello soompiers, this thread is in response to a comment that Seung-ri of Big Bang made on a radio show
about his visit to NYC for the 1Oth anni concert. to see the comment i am talking about please go here: http://www.soompi.com/forums/index.php?sho...p=4814325&#

I am writing a letter to Mr. YG/YG ENT. that i plan on emailing to say how much this offended and hurt me,
because YG ENT is the one and only label that i am a true fan of in the whole of the Korean music market
because they represent our (black) culture so well. that being said, i'd just like to post a few quotes from YG ENT main site
..because these words are what the company is built on (supposedly) and also just because i think that these words should be read...










--quoted from http://www.ygfamily.com/eng , YG ENT's english site please visit to view full statement (in comany profile>vision)
If you are a fan of
BIG BANG,
1TYM,
BIG MAMA,
LEXY,
STONY SKUNK,
SUGARLESS,
45RPM,
YG,
JINUSEAN, etc; and you were offended or even a bit put off by this comment,
i ask and invite you to write a letter as well, and post it here in this thread.
(even if you arent a fan of big bang/yg fam..i would appreciate any hip hop heads/rnb heads/ and reggae heads letters as well)

PLEASE NO BASHING!! THIS IS NOT A BASHING THREAD
SO ANYBODY BASHING WILL BE REPORTED TO A MODERATOR!!

~also, if you weren't affected by his comments, that's fine and all,
but i just ask that you not post here because i only want letters to Mr. YG/YG ENT.

thank you for your cooperation.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

my letter to Seung-Ri

dear seung-ri,

your comment about what happend to you in NYC really
hurt and upset me. i am appalled that you would say such a thing
especially when you know first hand that you have african american fans here in the states.
i know u saw us @ the concert and trl...you even waved at us..so how can you say that!?!
i no longer want to put you in my pocket...

i really hope that you apologize to your fans
and i really hope you take some time out of your busy schedule
to learn about the african americans in this country..i hope that you
learn about the music you are singing, the styles of clothing you are
wearing, the styles of hair your band mate is sporting
the styles of dance you and your band mates are performing

i really hope you learn about all of the beautiful, and wonderful things
that African Americans/Black Americans have contributed to this country
and to yours...please learn of those things...and not just the hear say and
the bad things because EVERY race has bad seeds..not just us.


--a disappointed fan

tiffany


my letter to Mr. YG

Dear Mr. YG,

As the founder of YG Entertainment, I applaud and respect you for believing in and representing Black American Culture through the
types of music, literature, and establishments that bear your name. Being a young African American fan of Korean Pop culture,
I was delighted when I came across your label and artists. Since then, they have become my favorites in the whole of the Korean music scene and I; along with many other African American/Black American fans, have spent a lot of time and money to show my gratitude for the uniqueness that is YG FAMILY.
The quality of the music you produce is a testament of how dedicated you are to the Hip Hop/ R&B cultures that was originated by the Black men and women in America.

However with that being said, I must comment on a radio interview that one of your popular groups (Big Bang) was recently a guest on.
Based on a fan translation of said radio show, Seung-ri (and a few others?) had talked about an incident when they were in America for YG's 1OTH Anniversary Concert, and had a mishap with a stranger's van...this was a cute and funny little story, until the last comment..when it was said that he was glad the stranger was Caucasian instead of Black...implying that if it were a Black man who had been the owner of the van instead of a White man, Seung-ri's life would have been in danger. (''could've gotten shot'' is the quote from the translation) I am truly disappointed by this comment because as a record label that upholds African American/Black culture, I feel that this type of stereotypical and racist statement is so very wrong. With the many African American/Black Americans that work for you/have worked for you/will work for you (including the choreographers, back-up dancers, writers, etc.) I feel that the least that Big Bang can do is to apologize for this disenchanting comment. Not only is it a disrespect to the fans (both Asian and Black), the African American Culture as a whole, but it is disrespectful to you and your vision, as stated on your main website.

I understand that his (Seung-Ri's) comment was not intentionally malicious, but it still hurt my heart that someone who's music I enjoy is so clueless that he
believes the stereotypes that are placed upon the Black Community in America.

I know it's not my place to tell you how to run your company, but as an African American fan who has supported you and your artists for the past 5 years, all I ask of you is two things.

1. please ask Big Bang member Seung-ri to issue an apology to his fans and the fans of YG ENTERTAINMENT

and

2. please ask that the trainees and established artists who also may feel this way also to please learn about and appreciate the beautiful and good things that
African Americans/Black Americans have brought to the table in the entertainment business/fashion industry both here in the USA and in Korea.

Thank you for taking the time to read my heartfelt letter, and taking into consideration anything that I have said.

YG FAMILY fan for life,

TIFFANY

[kayem7289]

You go girl! I may not be a big fan of YG's artists, or African American myself, but I'm happy that you are standing up for what you believe in. I hope your letter will get to them successfully, and hopefully they'll take some notice in it. Good luck!

[kfosho]

seungri *tsk* *tsk* *tsk*
i'm sorry tiffany that you were offended by seungri's comment.
yah he probably didn't mean it, but yah i understand that you were hurt by his words.
you should really really send that to them, because it really needs to be said

its strange because my dad was watching his korean show last night, and i started watching along too.
it was about these people weren't korean, but either born in korea or just love korea and started living there and speaking the language trying to fit in the korean culture. and one of the people were african american, there was an indian, white man, and a russian boy. they were being interviewed and they all except the white man said that they weren't accepted by the korean people and really felt hurt about it. they even had a chart showing how many korean alduts dont' like different nationalites in korea, and there was high number of them. i asked my dad why are koreans like that and he said that koreans kind of discrimiant on different nationalites. <<i don't know if thats bashing but yah, its just my dads opinion.
but yah koreans are kind of.......(oh yah by the way i'm korean soo yah i'm not like tyring to be mean to koreans in any way)

well i hope everything works out okay (:
i like your strong will tiffany, fight for what you believe in (:

[dream3rx0]

aigoo seungri...
you're doing the right thing.
hope it all works out well [=
fightiiiiiiing <3

[ohchells]

Wow Tiffany (Can I call you that?), I'm glad that you're standing up for what you believe in.
I hope that the letter will get to the them successfully and that Seung Ri will think twice before he talks on a show again.

[SukarDrops]

i'll write a letter! because that was uncalled for..i mean what if the guy went on about him being a ninja trying to assasinate him or trying to bust some karate moves on him..then he would have went back and said "they are very racist over in america"...ppl need to think b4 they speak!

[mon5482]

TIFFANY FIGHTING!!!

i'll be back later with more to say....(i'm at work ryt now)

[LucasBunny]

Tiffany gurl u know I'm behind u!

[dankyung]

omg seungri said that????

i totally respect what you're doing~ but i just can't believe he said that...

[hannahlove]

What he said was racist.... flat out.
It was definitely uncalled for.

I just want to add your letter (which was well written) that if they ARE gonna do this type of music with obviously korean culture added to it, they need to understand the history of rap, hip hop and etc. I think that's so important.
Good luck girl!

[LucasBunny]

Okay I took alot of offense to this because I like Big Bang
but the part that hurt me the most was when he said
"I'm glad it was a white person and not a black person"

I was like wtf? U act like a white person won't shoot you
and I know that Suengri has been around many black people
he has black choreographers, and look at there whole image
it's based on hip hop.

I'm sorry if I am overreacting but I was offended.

I don't think Suengri meant to be offensive, but it was kinda rude of him to just come out and say that.

I hope he apologizes and yes I will write a letter Tiff.

[BishieAddict]

Nice letter. You sounded very professional... I find that comment very strange too.. because if I recall correctly, wasn't Se7en working with some Black Americans for his albums? esp. with the choreography? It's very weird that this comment came from a YG member, esp. with their genre. I wouldn't have thought they were this ignorant.
I'm not trying to defend Seung-Ri, but perhaps because they're new, and they haven't learnt to watch what they say on air... and they never thought that their show will be translated.

It's not just Seung-Ri that has this issue, I was watching an episode of Hana yori dango 2 (Japanese drama) and I was appalled how they portrayed black americans... I don't even know where these get their stereotypes from.

I hope that your letter would make them think twice about their image they have of black americans.

[blessed]

GO YOU!! i'll support you all the way girl, do what you think is right!!
i think they should learn more about the culture & not just the music.

i read seung ri's comment,, & i think it was pretty ignorant & hurtful... i hope your letter works tiffany & he does apologise.

[cindel25]

Do you all have the address? If not, I will pm it to you. I won't post here.

That was really uncalled for.

[JiNi;]

I support you 100%.

I too was also upset from the comment he said.

I really hate how american movies and such bring such bad stereostypes to different countries -.-;; and really the only way to let them know the image of black americans are not like that.

Yes I will also write a letter, it'll be up soon I'm most likely going to write it with my friend since she too believes this needs some say in it.

[.:LaUrEn.:]

hey just wanted to say that this is a well-written, respectful letter. we all know seungri didn't mean any harm by saying what he said. he's just young and naive and probably wanted to say something funny on the radio show. but still, his words were uncalled for and he needs to apologize. so good job.

[xserene]

even though seungri is my fav, i do agree that it was a hurtful comment and pretty ignorant.
but at the same time i really don't think that seungri meant it in a racist way....
and yes, i am disappointed that he said such a thing.. aish >.>

aw well, i hope he does get this letter and apologiezs mm he should def. be careful w/his words
and nice letter. sounds really nice

[babybae]

I am like the biggest fan of YG; especially bigbang & I can't believe he said that .. yeah well I hope your letter goes well =) good luck~

[XhoXho]

I will definitely write a letter for you. I'll PM it.

SeungRi didn't know any better for saying that. One of my close friends from Japan came to visit. Her family is totally cool, but the thing is that she had never seen a black person before, so she was scared of them at first. After awhile, she got used to the diversity here and ended up LIKING this one guy that was african-american. I mean, they really don't know any better. I'm not going to dislike SeungRi for this, because I'm sure he wasn't meaning to insult or hurt anyone's feelings/pride. ON the other hand, if he doesn't take our messages to heart and issue some kind of apology or something, then I'm going to think MUCH less of this sexy little boy. 'Cause by then he SHOULD know better. Seriously. Gosh.

I'll probably mention that we don't care about what race HE is...seriously, most Japanese people I know like Korean dramas, but aren't really into Korean people. I find that really racist and close-minded, but we young people know much better than to even consider taking the korean stereotype into consideration. I'm not going to go some populus city in Asia, get into a minor scaffle and then say, "well at least they weren't Korean ::hint hint::" you know??? Then again, like I said before, I really don't think that they fully get what they [big bang] were talking about.

It'd be cool if you guys could write even a small note. That way YG knows that American fans in general were ashamed/or felt non-cool when they found out what he said. Just in case we're all equally busy with essays for school ^o^

[newlili]

wow !!! that is sad !!!
Maybe Seungri is one of the very young and inexperience artists that donot know in the US where are JAZZ, Blue, Soul, Rap, R&B, and hiphop come from ??????? They need to learn the basic history and culture to respect the type of music, dancings, and people they are learning to imitate !!!