G-Dragon's Camp Says K-Pop Star Wasn't Wearing Blackface

[benihime99.livejournal.com]

Says Trayvon Martin-like Instagram photo was both "HUGE misunderstanding" and reference to cover art from Big Bang mastermind's next solo effort



An Instagram photo of South Korean pop idol G-Dragon wearing what appears to be a hoodie and dark coloring over his skin was not meant as a comment on race or politics, according to a rep for the Big Bang leader.

"GD was simply wearing different facepaint colors and this is a HUGE misunderstanding," the spokesperson said in an email to SPIN. "The facepaint is only a color variation for his album cover which includes black, white, and red. It is in no way meant to be a political or racial statement."

The rep further clarified, "It’s being derived by a simple photo shoot where GD was using different facepaint colors for his upcoming album."

G-Dragon's spokesperson also said SPIN's article reporting on the image "is completely wrong and taken out of context."

The response comes after we reported on the photo, noting its resemblance to an iconic image of slain Florida youth Trayvon Martin and pointing out that it had drawn criticism online. Though the singer's Instagram account made no mention of Martin, the image bears an eerie similiarity to a meme that had Frank Ocean, Diddy, the-Dream, and others posting photos of themselves in a hoodie last year. (Rap-Up has a good collection of these Martin-inspired images.) Online forums Oh No They Didn't! and One Asian World previously pointed out an alleged connection to the Martin tributes.

G-Dragon is set to appear at KCON 2013, a K-pop convention in Los Angeles on August 24 and 25, and he is readying a new solo album. G-Dragon's 2012 "Crayon" was SPIN's No. 1 K-pop song of the year. His group Big Bang's "Bad Boy" was one of SPIN's 21 Greatest K-Pop Songs of All Time. Check out our coverage of a Big Bang concert in New Jersey here.

The original Instagram photo is below:

That's some Justin Bieber level of PR...

EDIT:
the official omona twitter has shared our open letter with authors from spin and the la times who wrote articles about GD.

Spin

Comments

Re: That Black in Asia tumblr post on GD though

[hipployta.livejournal.com]

You know...because I'm sure that if they are referring to using standard American dialect English or other such examples I will tell them off

She can have American Apparel too

[shineebambi.livejournal.com]

im not arguing that the japanese beliefs that they are superior to everyone has to do with the forced US troops after ww2 thats its own seperate thing thats why i linked it at the top

and the rental thing is based of that yes but its also has a lot to do with taht when the troops came over they didnt follow those rules and when people tried to communicate to them to follow those they either refused or played dumb which reinforce the westerners are dumb and can never fully follow the rules and why we are babied over their.

Oh i know i mean i did spend time in both city and rural japan and definitely saw the difference of when i had a japanese friend with and when i was alone but as a whole in the city i saw a lot less of being discriminated against for things. again i think it has a lot to do with they already see themselves as superior and then couple that with the occupation force and its unwillingness even today to adapt to social norms of japan makes it what it is today. They still are having problems with the US soliders that live in japanese neighborhoods actually following japanese social protocol and being their loud rouwdy drunken asshole selves and its very frustrating to japanese people.

Also i know what nationalist movement you are refering to and they are very loud and have gained some membership but its also a very old and very very very conservative japanese group and by no means represents the country as a whole or even close. i mean dont get me wrong their is certainly a sentiment of japanese are superior to everyone but its more along the lines of the US we are #1 at everything theirs just tends to focus on the mono culture that the us never really had

[shineebambi.livejournal.com]

omg im the thick one im the thick one hahahaha i have professors and lecturers and entire journals devoted to my side going back oh 30 years or so ( by the way the article i linked you too is from like the 80's so this isnt some crazy new information and the video series she started those classes in the 60's but you still havent watched them) from award winning authors and professors but im the thick one k sunshine keep doing what your doing keep fighting the good fight

[huile7.livejournal.com]

Sorry but slavery and colonization did not happen in America only. Its quite patronizing to asssume only african americans would be offended by blackface.

Re: That Black in Asia tumblr post on GD though

[modestgoddess79.livejournal.com]

Blacks acting white? Oh you mean that time we kidnapped ourselves from our homeland, transported ourselves across the Atlantic, forced ourselves to give up our religion/language/names and to work for free for hundreds of years while suffering rape and torture? Like really let me apologize to that person for speaking English and wearing jeans.

[toshi830.livejournal.com]

The reason I liked omona over other kpop blogs was because of the mature discussions and acknowledgement that a lot of the users had over some of the issues that pop up over say... akp where it's just oppa didn't mean it and unnecessary trolling.

Though I find that when I talked to the 2 other kpop guys I talk to, they're turned off by this place because they think it's over judgemental and I guess Jezebel level feminist, which is why they don't come here. Personally I don't think that's the case, but I can see why they think so sometimes.

I do feel that way looking at ONTD sometimes because when it comes down to certain articles, commenters look over sensitive and hypocritical. Plus I picked up some subtle anti-Asian vibes reading the whole GD comment section.

Re: That Black in Asia tumblr post on GD though

[e-bone (from livejournal.com)]

I'm laughing b/c I'm nearly 30 and I STILL get remarks on how I "speak so well!" on job interviews, how polite/respectful I am, etc. My brother gets the same treatment on his RESIDENCY INTERVIEWS lmao. Ah, white folk be all fucked up sometimes.

Anyway, it's tumblr. I'm assuming that commenter will get ripped apart in a couple hours anyway.

[shineebambi.livejournal.com]

oh hun ive been sitting here laughing at your sorry ass no need to worry about my heath you still showed you ass through the post so sucks to be you

[heartsolid.livejournal.com]

Lmao right?! That post was so much fun and hilarious

[digitalqueen.livejournal.com]

same, im too emotionally drained to engange in the discussion atm.

[modestgoddess79.livejournal.com]

they lack human empathy

[hisjulliet.livejournal.com]

(http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/703/9u09.gif/)

Re: That Black in Asia tumblr post on GD though

[toshi830.livejournal.com]

Quoting said person's tumblr:

i was merely saying you’re getting hella bent over an asian acting black. i just find your post to be ignorant since when a white person acts black, oh gee golly thats just uncalled for.

but when a black emerges into white culture, no one can say anything cuz if they do, they are being racist.

and i’m not even going to go into slavery, ain’t no body got time for that, and confused why the hell that was even brought up?

wtf is this mess

[shineebambi.livejournal.com]

they really do espically with the backpealding IM JUST TROLLNG HAHAHAHAHAHAHA dont mind me while i shit of PoC that get shit on everyday for my social experiment im doing hahaahahahahahaha im not racist its a social experiment guys okay

[hisjulliet.livejournal.com]

lmao

Re: That Black in Asia tumblr post on GD though

[digitalqueen.livejournal.com]

i almost reply, but there's no point trying to argue with dumb people.

[erbalurbal.livejournal.com]

where did anyone say that they hate koreans?

Re: That Black in Asia tumblr post on GD though

[stephantasm.livejournal.com]

this sounds like an uncle tom who refuses to acknowledge that GD is racist as hell.......

Just like when I read someone talking about Taeyang trying too hard to "seem black" and they did a video response? I think it was a seoulbeats letter and they were just so pissed that they were calling him embarrassing, and think someone "wanting to be black" is a compliment and basically bastardizing a culture is okay. And they used the same "trying to be white" comparison. Using standardized English isn't a white thing, is practically a survival thing. More black people would use slang if we didn't think we'd be out of getting a job or it wasn't so glorified as being the respectable way to speak and write.

Some people really have no understanding of social issues at all.

[unicornios.livejournal.com]

this thread wins this post

[unicornios.livejournal.com]

+1

[hisjulliet.livejournal.com]

you think every white person living in america has some super natural wonderful life full of privilege simply because they're white

ding ding ding

news flash

BECAUSE THEY DO by the sole fact that they are WHITE

[unicornios.livejournal.com]

i'm dying lol (precious icon btw)

[digitalqueen.livejournal.com]

this isnt "anything", this is a serious matter that hurts people. stop trying to minimize it.

[unicornios.livejournal.com]

I found out because I follow US news tbh.

[toshi830.livejournal.com]

I don't think anyone is calling GD racist necessarily. It's just that he idolizes and appropriates a culture without bothering to research the negative connotations of his actions, which leads us to things like him dressing up as blood or this black face. Intent isn't even necessary in this... it doesn't matter if you're doing it on purpose or not, if a great deal of people are going to be offended because of the history of negative attachments to that action, you probably shouldn't do it to begin with.