GQ Magazine Accused Of “Disrespect” And Racism Towards TXT, SHINee, And BTS

Fans are demanding an apology.
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GQ Magazine recently featured TXT, along with an interview that swiftly angered fans for multiple areas of concern. K-Pop fans pointed out alleged racism towards Hueningkai and SHINee, disrespect for both TXT and BTS, poor editing, and misinformation.

TXT

Before reaching the magazine’s feature on TXT, the caption of the tweet and article gained attention for incorrectly claiming that HYBE created TXT to be “the next BTS.” Jin and Jimin once addressed the idea of a “next BTS,” explaining that they wanted their juniors to gain “bigger success if they explore their own way.” Fans commented on the post to share that sentiment and noted that TXT and BTS are completely different groups with unique colors.

Their label wants them to be the next BTS. Their fans want to be them. But the five young members of TXT are really looking forward to having a cheeseburger.

— GQ Magazine

When reading the article, fans noticed an alleged act of racism. The author, Chris Gayomali, referred to Hueningkai as “the hapa who makes everyone laugh.” They discovered the word hapa is a shortened form of the derogatory phrase hapa haole, which refers to a mixed-race Hawaiian.

In person the TXT boys are all beautiful (yup) and reticent like shy teenagers (a little disarming), with pores so small you’d need an electron microscope to find them.

The group consists of Soobin (the tall sexy one), Yeonjun (the other sexy one; also the consensus best dancer among the guys), Taehyun (the enthusiastic one who dominates the groupchat), Huening Kai (the hapa who makes everyone laugh), and Beomgyu (a gentle angel from heaven).

— Chris Gayomali

Description of TXT’s members. | GQ Magazine

The derogatory mention of Hueningkai’s mixed ancestry—and doing so in a joking manner—upset fans. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the only section regarding race that infuriated readers.

In addition to incorrectly stating that Soobin was in “a gang during middle school,” rather than editing it properly to say a school band, they also made a glaring mistake when writing about Taehyun‘s inspiration to become an idol. The article mentioned him getting chills from watching a “Chinese music video.” The music video wasn’t from a Chinese artist at all.

Taehyun knew he wanted to be famous when he was six or seven. ‘It was this Chinese music video,’ he says. ‘I got chills watching the music video! It was so cool.’

Soobin also performed a gang in middle school. His favorite song to perform was ‘Beautiful Night’ by Ulala Session.

Huening Kai, meanwhile, learned to play music from his dad, and loved Avril Lavigne’s ‘Sk8er Boi’ (he said see you later boy).

— Chris Gayomali

Description of TXT’s inspiration. | GQ Magazine

In multiple interviews, Taehyun mentioned watching SHINee’s “Replay” at a young age and being inspired by them to become an idol. He remembered being amazed by Taemin in particular.

The first time I saw SHINee’s music video and watched their performance, I thought that they were really incredible.

— Taehyun

Taehyun

Adding to the poor editing that fans have called out, they noted that the article also misspelled Hueningkai’s name.

What are your personal devils? I ask eagerly. Your guilty pleasures? ‘Purchasing items in video games,’ says Heuning Kai. ‘RPGs.’

— Chris Gayomali

Misspelling of Hueningkai’s name. | GQ Magazine

The article’s author has gone private on his Twitter and Instagram accounts, and the magazine has yet to release a statement on the matter. Since then, the magazine edited the caption and replaced the derogatory term referring to Hueningkai. Still, fans are demanding an apology.

Source: GQ Magazine
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