KUALA LUMPUR: Don’t mess with BTS or it’s diehard fan base dubbed Army. One unfortunate soul who dissed the ultra-popular K-Pop music group with a couple of off-colour and unsavoury comments online literally got the boot.
According to a Huffington Post report yesterday, a real estate agent by the name of Brian Hughes had attacked BTS on Twitter after catching the South Korean group’s recent debut performance on the long-running American show Saturday Night Live.
Hughes, who was employed by real estate firm Highline Residential in New York, apparently wrote: “They look like kids. How old are they? Are Asian women even attracted to their own men?”
The tweet, which the Huffington Post described “perpetuated the offensive emasculation of Asian men in Western culture”, soon made its rounds amidst the social media sphere and started attracting the attention of Netizens from the Asian community.
When the irate Netizens alerted his employer of the demeaning matter, the firm apparently fired Hughes the next day itself.
Highline Residential tweeted a statement concerning its decision which read: “We want to apologise to everyone for the inappropriate tweet sent by Brian Hughes. His comment does not at all reflect Highline’s values. We are proud to represent a diverse workforce and clientele. Our relationship with Brian has been terminated.”
Hughes tweet naturally ignited a whole slew of criticism especially from BTS’ Army.
Social media users were quick to screen grab the offensive tweet so it continued circulating even though Hughes’ account has since been deleted.
But Highline Residential’s speedy response saw its public apology and termination tweet going viral. The gesture managed to pacify fans who thanked the firm for its quick and decisive action on the whole sordid matter.