One fact of life that’ll always remain true: Never say anything negative at all about K-Pop idols unless you want to incur the intense wrath of K-Pop stans. Local social media figure Dee Kosh got the full blast of it (though it was under a weak guise of being a “social experiment”), and now, The Straits Times entertainment correspondent Yip Wai Yee has suffered the same fate.
The reporter had been tasked with interviewing Seungri, the South Korean singer-actor from K-Pop behemoths BigBang. The star was in town last Saturday for an appearance at the Braun Buffel store at Marina Bay Sands, teasing fans with an upcoming solo tour around the world that’ll see him stop by Singapore. ST even managed to snag an interview with him, resulting in a pretty run-of-the-mill fluff video feature.
But what made the ST feature actually interesting was an apologetic addendum that expressed the publication’s regret over “some inappropriate remarks” made by Yip on her personal Instagram account.
Called out
Said “inappropriate remarks” were actually exposed on Twitter by K-Pop fan @wahinenani, who uploaded screenshots of Yip’s Instagram Stories. As amiable as she was during the shoot, Yip found some parts of the job pretty vexing. Apparently, she waited on Seungri for an hour (and expressed displeasure in conducting interviews with Korean stars). Also, she found it a bit difficult to understand him, presumably because English is his second language.
she hates korean interview, bs just quit your job and Go, as if seungri force you to do it,, pic.twitter.com/LB1y6t0hFD
— (@wahinenani) December 8, 2018
And lo, the floodgates busted open. K-Pop stans immediately condemned the ST correspondent for her comments — even though they were her personal opinions made on her personal Instagram account. Accusations of Yip being “racist” and “unprofessional” were inevitably thrown around.
He hates korean interviews then better yet stop being in the journalism industry. People who mock others bcs of their fluency in english should stop being a journalist. They should know that people have their own language and respect it https://t.co/39zymFBNNH
— BIGBANG❤VIPS (@GeorginaChoi88) December 9, 2018
Some reporter said something about Seungri’s English and having to wait an hour . How she hated doing Korean interviews. I for one thought his English was good enough. You have to pratice until you get better. That is with any language. She should not be doing interviews ..
— G2thedbãby (@Gd2b4Panda) December 9, 2018
Saw the hooha with a local reporter + seungri. I honestly hope she’s an journalist intern on a school internship.
— gee. 외블리 | 인생은 timing 입니다 (@gskies_6) December 10, 2018
Man that reporter really wanted to fight. Seungri is an angel who is super busy. That guy does not deserve his time
— ️ (@topkwonjiyong) December 9, 2018
Imagine calling SEUNGRI “this guy” afgshfjslk and if he hates korean interviews that much why doesn’t he go and find another job also what’s with the “korean interview”? Isn’t that lowkey racist (?)
— T❄ (@taniasorzam) December 8, 2018
That Strait Times reporter should release a public apology for Seungri and not just a dm from the company.
— WHITE SKULL FLUFFY SOLDIER (@PieKwonie) December 10, 2018
How dare she?? She shouldn’t ever say stuff like that OUT LOUD! Waiting is part of the job. She needs a new profession. ENG isn’t his first language, it was probably hard for him too. Jerk.
— De Naja’ S. Handy (@NajaSAKAii) December 9, 2018
While you could protest that Yip’s insensitive comments were made on a personal social media account, it’s perhaps not that surprising that ST made a point to quickly distance themselves. In this day and age, no amount of “opinions are my own” qualifiers can truly cover your ass enough when it comes to your employers, particularly if you work in the public sphere.
And so ST makes the safe play (from their perspective) and life moves on.
That said, we’re not really expecting Yip to cover K-Pop content any longer now that she’s on the radar of the genre’s highly loyal and emotional fans.
Reader Interactions