BTS fans criticise British DJ for his remarks against K-pop band and ARMY: 'Your racism will never disappear'

BTS fans were upset after British DJ Mat Zo made 'racist' remarks against the K-pop group and genre. The international group comprises of members RM, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V and Jungkook.

BTS fans criticised British DJ Matan Zohar, better known as Mat Zo, after he spoke against BTS, their fandom and the K-pop genre in general. In a series of now-deleted tweets, Mat called the K-pop genre 'still niche in the west'. He also said that BTS 'are as big as they are cause of relentless corporate support' adding that there is 'a clear motive'.

BTS made their debut in 2013.

Mat Zo's statements also received backlash from the fandom and he soon issued an apology. He also announced that he would be “stepping away from social media” to reflect upon his actions.

In his now-deleted tweets, he had said, "I'm convinced that k-pop is still niche in the west. Seriously, how many k-pop fans do you know personally? Is it possible corporations are pushing bts so hard cause it's not working? There's a lot of big corp incentive for the k-pop model of cultural manufacturing to work over here."

"The music industry filters what's popular and the corporations follow, but that's risky cause a non manufactured popular artist might be dangerous and difficult to control or predict," Mat added.

He also wrote, "K-pop took that model and refined it and scaled it up. The problem with the Disney stars era is it wasn't sustainable or easy to maintain without public backlash, where as k-pop stars have every aspect of them under struct control and everyone knows and no one cares. K-pop doesn't hide the fact that it's manufactured by grooming children into cultural icons."

"My whole point is I don't believe there's a McBTS happy meal cause bts are the hottest act in music, I think bts are as big as they are cause of relentless corporate support and there's a clear motive," he also tweeted.

Talking about the ARMY, he also tweeted, "And it's suspicious how every k-pop stan on the internet has an anime character for their profile pic they post of packed out stadiums is a crappy lo-res image that could've been taken anywhere. Not saying they aren't real but it adds to the fake vibe of it all." "Does no one see the irony in a fanclub supporting a billions $ industry that borders on child grooming and slavery calling itself the army?"

Several BTS fans called Mat racist. Tweets such as "Ew, there's a racist on the line up" and "Mat Zo retaining this twt after deleting his other racist takes. Not him still hoping for a 875 collab" were posted by fans.

A fan also wondered, "Why do ppl who apologize for making racist comments always say 'while I never intended to hurt or offend anyone..'”.

He later issued an apology, "I'd like to extend a sincere apology for my insensitive words and derogatory comments directed at the Asian community. While I never intended to hurt or offend anyone, after listening to the concerns of people close to me and those of the many fans, I now fully understand just how deeply these words have cut."

Mat also added, "I will strive to be better, and promise to educate myself so not to fall into such small-minded prejudices. I will be stepping away from social media for a while to reflect on my actions."

Earlier this year, German radio jockey Matthias Matuschik made a racist remark about the group. After they covered Coldplay's hit track Fix You, Matthias had labelled their cover as 'blasphemy'. He had even compared the group to Covid-19 and called them 'some crappy virus that hopefully there will be a vaccine for soon as well.'