Video Of Paparazzi Being Racist Towards NCT’s Johnny At The 2022 Met Gala Goes Viral As Fans Express Outrage

Johnny is from Chicago yet was assumed not to understand English.
News
Koreaboo

NCTzens were excited to hear NCT‘s Johnny would be attending the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute‘s 2022 Met Gala (also known as Met Ball) during his NYC trip.

NCT’s Johnny | @NCTsmtown/Twitter

It was especially anticipated as he practically manifested it years ago.

He joins EXO‘s Lay, PSY, Rain, and Super Junior‘s Siwon as the fifth male K-Pop idol to grace the annual star-studded event.

Considering Anna Wintour herself approves all attendees, it is an especially high honor.

The theme of this year’s Met Gala is In America: An Anthology of Fashion, focusing on gilded glamour. Since Johnny is a successful Korean-American, styled by a brand owned and run by Asian-Americans, it seemed very fitting since May is Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.

The stories really reflect the evolution of American style, but they also explore the work of individual tailors, dress-makers, and designers. …We’ve been exploring untold stories and focusing on designers who have been almost written out of fashion history because they weren’t commercially successful or they had a short career span, but at the time had a big impact on American fashion.

— Andrew Bolton, Met Gala Curator and Coordinator

Despite the celebratory event on the particular awareness month, Johnny still became the victim of racism that night. Johnny arrived at The 2022 Met Gala looking fine AF, just as expected.

The paparazzi directed the celebrities to pose for photos on the red carpet. Being in a crowd of people with so much noise, especially with cameras and flashes going off, can be overwhelming, and one can’t hear everything. Still, one paparazzi got especially impatient.

After directing Johnny to move so that he could get a better picture, one paparazzi became annoyed when the K-Pop idol did not change his pose immediately.

Johnny Suh, over here! On this side, please!

— Paparazzi

Thus the man muttered, “He doesn’t understand a word I’m saying.” He assumed that since Johnny was not responding to his direction immediately and was Asian, he must not understand English.

He doesn’t understand a word I’m saying. F*ck.

— Paparazzi

The original poster of the video @dygenre didn’t realize until after their video went viral that the man next to them had said something racist about Johnny.

Originally, the NCTzen posted the video expressing their excitement about seeing Johnny.

Yet, shortly after posting, the video blew up but for unfortunate reasons as viewers noticed the audio including the paparrazzi’s racist remark.

Netizens were shocked to hear such a racist remark made especially considering Johnny is from Chicago, Illinois, and therefore is fluent in English.

Nevertheless, it was xenophobic to assume that he could not understand English just because Johnny is Asian.

Netizens are also pointing out that the paparazzi in question also mispronounced Johnny’s name despite Suh being straightforward to pronounce.

Naturally, the video went viral on both Twitter and TikTok just a couple of hours after the original posting. The original video has over 300K views on Twitter.

NCTzen MARKSTAGRAM (@lomlmkl on TikTok) shared it on TikTok, and it garnered 16.8K views in just two hours.

@lomlmkl

once nctzen find his ass, hes for the streets #johnnysuh #metgala #fyp #fypシ #lomlmkl

♬ original sound – MARKSTAGRAM

| @lomlmkl/TikTok

The original poster of the video was able to identify the paparazzi as Erwyn Diaz. The man requested Johnny’s Instagram handle in order to tag him, which many found quite ironic.

It is disheartening that anyone has to hear such ignorant and racist remarks. Unfortunately, since COVID-19 especially, there has been a rise in anti-Asian rhetoric and hate crimes in America. Many Asian American idols have been troubled about it as they have family there or even live there themselves, such as Eric Nam and GOT7‘s Mark Tuan. Not only that, but the lack of acceptance for Asians in the Western entertainment industry is a primary reason why Eric decided to travel to South Korea to begin a career in music.

Eric Nam | EN Management

Thankfully, Johnny also met lots of fans the night of The 2022 Met Gala. So, hopefully, their love drowns out any hate and bigotry he may have overheard.

Still, this is not an exclusive incident in which Johnny was addressed with such offensive assumptions. Three years ago, an interviewer told Johnny that his “English was phenomenal.” Though, the interviewer in question has since apologized.

Similarly, a video went viral of a man being racist towards BLACKPINK‘s Rosé also in New York City. Read more below:

Video Of A Man Being Racist Toward BLACKPINK’s Rosé In NYC Goes Viral As Fans Express Outrage

Source: @dygenre

What's Happening Around The World

BLACKPINK’s Rosé Delivers Emotional Speech To Dog In Case She Doesn’t Survive

Geffen Records Teases BTS V’s Collaboration With Late Singer

Idol-Turned-YouTuber Arrested For Fraud After Failing To Sing The National Anthem

SEVENTEEN Fan Shocks The Members By Twerking And More At Concert

View All (1876)

Next Page
Scroll to top