Jimmy Kimmel Faces Backlash Due To His Xenophobic Comments
How It All Began
Ashley Park of ‘Emily in Paris’ made a visit on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, but the host of the talk show has been accused of bigotry.
Ashley’s performance of “Dynamite” in “Emily in Paris” was brought up by Jimmy. He stated “You sang a BTS song on the show, and I’m curious what the fallout would be, since I know we’ve had them on our show before, and their followers will camp out. They’re probably still waiting for the next time they come on in the parking lot. They’re really enamoured with these men.”
Teen Vogue Describes The News As,
What would it be like to live in a world where late-night comedians couldn’t make derogatory jokes about BTS, especially when those same comedians gain from having BTS on their shows?
Jimmy Kimmel, who recently compared “BTS fever” to having COVID-19 in an interview with Emily in Paris singer Ashley Park, has returned with a new monologue that includes a sneaky reference to a boy band “so contagious it wrecks the earth.” While he does not specifically mention BTS, the message was clear. After all, who is the world’s largest band right now?
“These variants, all the many varieties in the globe right now,” Kimmel remarked in his monologue, “remind me of the boy bands in the late 1990s and early 2000s.” “You had the huge ones like Backstreet Boys and NSYNC, and then O-Town and 98 Degrees mutated from there.”
“The JoBros appeared, Big Time Rush, and they continued to split off into separate groups, finally forming One Direction. And they took pieces of it and spread it over the world until we finally get at one that is so contagious that it wipes out all life on the planet.”
Making that kind of “joke” so close to the well-deserved backlash he and the show have gotten for making a low-key xenophobic statement about BTS and COVID seems… ill-advised and clumsy at best, targeted at worst. But, more than stirring the wrath of fans who are rightfully fed up with their favourite band being insulted all the time, it’s just plain ignorant of the world we live in.
The world in which anti-Asian hate crimes increased during a global pandemic; the world in which Asian actors and superstars are underrepresented in Western media; the world in which Asian musicians must work seven times as hard to achieve, only to have the goalposts shifted at every turn.
Yahoo Too Has Something To Say,
Social media users chastised Kimmel for implying that being a BTS fan is as hazardous as the current outbreak, which has killed millions across the world.
When the conversation turned to ARMYs, Park was talking about her cover of BTS’ hit song “Dynamite,” which was featured in Season 2 of “Emily in Paris.”
Kimmel cracked a few jokes about BTS fans, saying, “They are totally insane for these boys.” Kimmel joked that she had to be “careful with an army, because they can attack” after Park mentioned the term “ARMY.”
Park considers herself an ARMY, but she didn’t realise “how much of an ARMY” she was until she covered “Dynamite” for Netflix’s blockbuster series.
The actor then expressed her delight upon seeing that BTS members RM and V had shared video of her cover on their personal Instagram profiles.
She went on to say that later in the day she “couldn’t think, couldn’t communicate, and couldn’t get up,” and that she felt “into shock.” She initially attributed her symptoms to the Instagram finding, but it was later discovered that she was suffering from the Omicron variety of COVID-19.
“Yes,” Park said when Kimmel questioned if she thought “that was BTS fever.” “They’re both really dangerous,” Kimmel continued. You’re lucky to be alive after that.”
Many YouTube commenters chastised the talk show presenter, claiming that his “BTS fever” joke was improper and discriminatory, given that Asians have been accused of spreading COVID-19 since the pandemic began.
One user remarked, “To casually term dedicated fans ‘mad’ or that they ‘can attack’ is not it.” “All the Army wants is for BTS to be honored in the way that they deserve.” We do not ‘attack’ just because we publicly point out underlying bigotry or xenophobia. It’s referred to as “keep people accountable.”