BTS Jungkook’s Backup Dancer Clashes With ARMYs Over The Crisis In Palestine

Fans are calling for him to be dropped from the crew.

Dancer Jake Kodish, who has been working with BTS’s Jungkook, has landed himself in hot waters with ARMYs in the last few days.

Jake Kodish | @jakekodish/Instagram
Kodish with Jungkook (center) | @jakekodish/Instagram

Kodish is a choreographer and dancer who has worked with Jungkook in most of his recent solo releases, including “Seven,” “3D,” and “Standing Next To You.” He is a part of the crew that has been performing live with Jungkook in all his recent shows. The other team members include renowned dancers like Brian Puspos, Ian Eastwood, Vinh Nguyen, Nick Joseph, and David Pornel.

However, it is just Kodish who has been clashing with ARMYs recently. The conflict started after the dancer posted multiple Instagram stories in support of Israel following the escalated humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip in early October. The violence triggered a worldwide reaction on an unprecedented scale, with millions of people calling for a ceasefire to save innocent lives.

Amidst such a sensitive situation, Kodish’s Instagram posts were not taken well by ARMYs, who called him out for propagating harmful rhetoric on his platform. The dancer engaged with the fans’ comments, but not in the most mature ways.

In other responses, he claimed that he had changed his stance on this issue but had decided not to address it publicly, inviting further criticism.

Meanwhile, ARMYs also discovered some distasteful past incidents involving Kodish. In 2019, he made disrespectful comments about Taylor Swift right after touring with her, which landed him in hot waters with her fans.

While interacting with some of them on social media, Kodish made some sexually crude comments as “clapbacks.”

He had later backtracked on his initial statement about Taylor, much like the current situation.

With everything in mind, ARMYs started demanding that HYBE take action against Kodish and ensure he doesn’t get to work with their artists anymore. They are also voicing their concerns to Jam Republic, the dance crew that Kodish is associated with.

In the midst of outpouring criticism, Kodish posted his renewed stance on the matter, saying he doesn’t want any more “senseless killing.” However, many took it as him backpedaling in the face of heat again and criticized him further for his lukewarm “statement.”

Soon after posting that Tweet, Kodish deactivated his account, presumably because of the increasing backlash.

ARMYs are still communicating their demands to drop him from future projects, but HYBE has not made any official responses.

BTS

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