Here’s The Real Story Behind That Leaked Photo Of BTS’s Suga And Anderson .Paak, And It’s Even Crazier Than You Ever Imagined
Ever since American music artist Anderson .Paak and his family attended BTS‘s PERMISSION TO DANCE ON STAGE concert in Los Angeles, California, and they’ve been making headlines…
One half of Silk Sonic with Bruno Mars, Anderson is not only talented but a super friendly and likable guy. So, naturally, he’s developed a relationship with BTS now, too, while the rest of his family are all huge ARMYs.
singing make it right pic.twitter.com/aYYagb9rdv
— maddie (@613hive) November 18, 2021
He’s even followed all the members on Instagram the moment they created their personal accounts.
And, like a true friend, he continues to tease them. Jin, especially, is his main target!
From Anderson Paak’s instagram story
🔗 https://t.co/1CoHScOhFt#방탄소년단진 #진 #JIN #BTSJIN @BTS_twt pic.twitter.com/C9LCCnQpM0— #SuperTunaDanceChallenge 🐟 (@jinniesfile) December 7, 2021
Still, there’s one member that he seems especially close to, and it’s none other than Suga. Before Anderson met up with the whole crew following their L.A. concert, he and the rapper were seen out together as a leaked photo of the two went viral on social media.
help Anderson .Paak took yoongi on and date and his wife was risking everything for seokjin. yoonjin wrecking marriages in LA pic.twitter.com/LNK4flI1L5
— 🍒 (@glossysin) November 28, 2021
Many fans were surprised to see them together. Some even wondered if the photo was an edit.
Anderson Paak Ariana and
and Yoongi pic Jungkook pic
🤝
armys reaction: "is this real?" pic.twitter.com/8Y7uuTRP4r— ace⁷🍓 (@clownfortannies) November 27, 2021
However, the receipts ruled in favor of the photo being 100% authentic. Earlier, Suga had been spotted in the same beanie at the LA Clippers game.
apparently the yoongi and anderson paak pic was taken after the game or something? cos yoongi was wearing the same beanie he attended the game with.. i have no idea where the photo was posted tho
— shu(ga) loves seokjin (@myglight) November 27, 2021
The only problem left? ARMYs couldn’t find the source for the photo anywhere.
the way that anderson paak and yoongi pic has absolutely no source pic.twitter.com/fa3nt0IQNY
— finding yoongi (@JIMINSPOGOSTICK) November 27, 2021
Well, we finally found it! It turns out the Instagram user @yox_rick had uploaded the photo of Anderson .Paak and Suga.
the picture was posted by @ yox_rick on instagram a few days ago and soon after deleted pic.twitter.com/K9jjKn0STa
— dtp. @agustd (@dtownprint) November 27, 2021
There were still a few questions. Who is the user exactly? Where are they at?
Based on the original post’s location tag, they were at the Intercrew Restaurant in Koreatown, located 3330 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90010. It’s a European-Asian fusion restaurant. It recently opened up, taking the place of the popular Intercrew club, which had been closed for a while.
The user is LYRICKS (also known as Rick Lee), a Korean American music artist. He is also one-half of the rap duo Year of the Ox (also known as YOX).
You can find him working at Intercrew most of the time…
Now, we finally know even more information, thanks to another close connection. Korean American rapper and actor (and Anderson’s bestie) Dumbfoundead. He recently spoke with LYRICKS, and we finally learned the story behind the photo.
LYRICKS appeared on Dumbfoundead’s podcast Fun With Dumb for episode 163, “Petty Boys.” And, he spilled all the tea.
LYRICKS: Your boy went viral last week.
Dumbfoundead: Did you?
LYRICKS: I went viral last week, not for anything I’ve done…
The new Intercrew is definitely attempting to live up to its name. Already, some of today’s biggest stars are frequenting it. It’s no surprise, really, since the team behind it are all huge stars in their own right.
The motley crew behind Intercrew calls themselves the Good Times Group, backed prominently by nightlife vet and Belasco general manager Richard Nam, as well as Twitch co-founder Kevin Lin, Kirby Lee, two members of the hip hop/electronic group Far East Movement (James Roh and Kevin Nishimura), filmmaker Daniel ‘DPD’ Park, and chef de cuisine Johnny Tran. All have fond memories of the original Intercrew, which shut down two decades ago in a different location.
So it was really no surprise to those familiar with the spot like LYRICKS when one dinner became a full star-studded event. Like literally everyone was there…
Intercrew, hottest spot in Koreatown, the gathering, the rendezvous point of just the who’s who, you know what I mean.
— LYRICKS
It turns out that not only was he there along with Anderson .Paak and Suga. Even KARD‘s BM, Bruno Mars, and CL were there too!
LYRICKS: We had the queen CL over there … Anderson .Paak…
Dumbfoundead: Who else?
LYRICKS: Bruno.
Dumbfoundead: Who else?
LYRICKS: Which makes Silk Sonic.
Dumbfoundead: Who else?
LYRICKS: Suga from BTS.
Dumbfoundead: Suga from BTS?!
LYRICKS: Yes.
This is how the story begins. LYRICKS had been introducing everyone, so naturally, photos were being taken too.
You know there was a lot of pictures being taken. …Yo, it’s that story is crazy like… Oh, I introduced Bruno to BTS, I introduced Anderson .Paak to Big Matthew from KARD (BM) like, oh yeah, Big Matthew, first of all, like, you know, these guys are huge.
— LYRICKS
Afterward, all the photos were shared in a group chat, likely the Good Times Group. No big deal, it’s a common practice.
I take this picture of Andy, of .Paak, and one of the BTS members, right. And we just had it in the archive… We’re sharing it in our, you know, like our chat thread, our chat room just like congratulating each other like, ‘Whoa, man, this is crazy. This is iconic. It’s a movie…’
— LYRICKS
Anyone who has been in a group chat knows just how chaotic it can become… Your phone blows up regularly, and especially when pictures are involved, you don’t always see the tiny messages attached.
When you send a whole slew of messages, it’s very common that you could miss a line that says… it’s one line, ‘Don’t post these.’
— LYRICKS
LYRICKS totally missed the message, warning people not to post the celebrity-filled photos. So, he casually posted a photo on his Instagram, not thinking much of it.
I post the picture, but I swear it wasn’t intentional … So, the way I promote Intercrew is I try to do it organically, whether it’s a freestyle because I don’t want people to think I quit being LYRICKS and YOX, and I just moved on to this restaurant thing. So, I try to integrate what I do and like my lane with, you know, Intercrew, so I thought naturally you’ll put these pictures up of like you know famous people and kind of make it exciting, have people be like, ‘Damn, we could catch a celebrity there sometime. You know, that was the whole point of the picture.’
— LYRICKS
He never expected that the new photo would blow up so much. So he was surprised when he was contacted just seconds after posting, being told to delete his new post.
I posted, within 45 seconds, Curb, you know the management, text me like, ‘What are you doing? Take that sh*t off! Take that sh*t off!
— LYRICKS
LYRICKS recognizes his mistake now. Posting any celebrity’s location shortly after they were there is never a good idea.
Dumbfoundead: They’re like upset because they’re like big stars. They don’t want to be known where they’re at.
LYRICKS: 100% That was very short-sighted of me, I’m not gonna lie.
Luckily, he was able to catch his mistake soon. So, the photo was able to be deleted in under a minute, and all seemed well.
Less than a minute, I took it down. Like, you know, we nipped that in the bud.
— LYRICKS
Despite catching his mistake almost immediately, the photo still managed to go viral… Nearly a week later.
Fermentation, kind of like kimchi…
— LYRICKS
LYRICKS was fast, but fans were faster. He recognized that someone must have screenshotted in that short period of time.
I just want to take this time right now to just pay my respects to the ARMY, dude. The BTS ARMY is no joke.
— LYRICKS
An ARMY had caught the photo, screenshotted it, and later reposted it. From there, it spread like wildfire.
LYRICKS: They spotted it, and then they reposted it…
Dumbfoundead: It went stupid viral.
LYRICKS: It went stupid viral!
Dumbfoundead: 30K shares.
LYRICKS: I’m talking about the next day with 400 new followers…
After gaining a bunch of new followers overnight, LYRICKS also had a bunch of new message notifications. Everyone wanted to know why the photo disappeared.
My whole DM is flooded with the ARMY saying, ‘Yeah, who are you to hide the truth from us?! Why’d you take that down? Repost that!’
— LYRICKS
While LYRICKS certainly did his best at the time to undo his mistake, he still feels bad. Nevertheless, he definitely learned his lesson!
I do want to apologize to whoever was affected. I did not mean to blow up anyone’s spot…
— LYRICKS
Still, his friend Dumbfoundead can’t help but tease him about the whole thing!
Dumbfoundead: I know those are some big names, but even when I’m there, I like to keep my privacy… So, don’t post any pictures of me when I’m there! Don’t f*cking dare! Alright?
LYRICKS: You just put yourself in the list of these heavyweights?
Dumbfoundead: I’m not BTS, but I’m BTS; I like being behind the scenes, not in the front. So keep my privacy.
So, now we finally know the full story behind that photo.
We just wonder know… Collab when?
So Yoongi met up with CL, Anderson Paak and Bruno Mars omg something HUGE is coming 👀
— Ahlem⁷ (@hopefulmyg2) December 6, 2021
yoongi staying behind in la instead of going back to korea, yoongi hanging with the likes of anderson paak, bruno mars and cl etc, yoongi naming his instagram handle agustd, something is coming
— dtp. @agustd (@dtownprint) December 6, 2021
Watch the full podcast episode below:
