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

[shineebambi.livejournal.com]

The only place I've seen the argument for something similar to racism is South Africa against the white farmers but I don't know enough about the situation to really comment on it

[shineebambi.livejournal.com]

There is definitely some serious discrimination in Japan but I wouldn't call it racism. A lot of it is built out of Japanese are far superior to everyone around them but its also built a lot out of the force occupation of Japan after ww2? Like the rental thing is based of when Americans first vcame ver after the war they were loud noisy smelly messy you normal American solider and refused to do antpything to help coexistants easier. So we still have that reputation and Japanese don't want to live around us because of that and thus gaijin houses. There is definitely discrimination for sure espically in rural areas but I mean realistically if Japanese can have a Japanese renter or a Japanese customer or worker the white person is the next one on the list of acceptable about other Asians and espically above blacks and southeast Asians so I can't really call it racism

[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