Shocking Level of Racist Hate GOT7’s BamBam Received After His K-Pop Debut
In the latest video from the YouTube channel 1Million Dance Studio, K-Pop idol BamBam talked about the shocking level of racist hate that he received after he debuted with GOT7.
BamBam mentioned that, more recently, since Korean fans started finding him more endearing through his appearances on multiple entertainment programs—especially EXchange (Transit Love 2), things have been looking up for him.
GOT7’s BamBam Reveals He Almost Left The K-Pop Industry And The Impressive Reason Why He Stayed
But the decade leading up to such peace has been nothing but stressful.
BamBam explained that he didn’t struggle as a trainee at JYP Entertainment. In fact, as one of the most excelling trainees, BamBam was confident that he would debut without a problem. And he did, in 2014…
I was actually totally fine when I was a trainee. When I lived at the dorm, I lived with other foreigner trainees, including some GOT7 members, too. So, I had a lot of fun there. It was fine. People at JYPE also adored me, and to be honest, I got great scores on the end-of-the-month evaluations and other assessments. So, I had a good reputation built. I was confident about the debut.
— BamBam
…except his debut triggered some unexpected reactions from the Korean audience. According to BamBam, his debut was met with fierce backlash—racist and hateful at the core.
Once I debuted, though, nothing went as I expected. That was rough. I struggled at that point. People said a lot of things… Like, I was so young. My skin was also not as bright-toned as it is now. I had chubbier cheeks and not the greatest voice. So people said, ‘The group would have been better without that member,’ or even ‘Get rid of that Southeast Asian loser,’ and stuff. Oh, I was heartbroken. But back then… I was sad, but I used it as motivation to work harder.
— BamBam
Fortunately, though, despite the soul-shattering experience in his early debut era, BamBam stuck through and is now “doing much better.”
When we started touring outside Korea to perform, I had a lot of fans rooting for me. Still, I didn’t have a lot of support when we performed in Korea. But ever since I went solo… and at one point, things just changed, and more Koreans started acknowledging me. I assumed it was because of all the entertainment programs I went on. The things I did outside my actual job were helping me out with my actual job, so to speak. And I’ve been doing much better, thanks to that. Things are much better now. So… It’s just that decade leading up to where I am now that was a true struggle.
— BamBam
Watch the full episode below.
