An explanation of the may “terror” month of 2016 aka the series of anti-fan attacks against bts

Meta
Title:	an explanation of the may “terror” month of 2016 aka the series of anti-fan attacks against bts
Creator:	themoonjoon
Date(s):	February 1, 2018
Medium:	Tumblr post
Fandom:	BTS
Topic:	Plagarism accusation, Sajaegi accusation, anti-fans, Twitter hashtags
External Links:	"thejoonmoon.tumblr". Archived from the original on 2021-02-14. Note: all articles are recorded on archive.org, if no longer available put the links into the Wayback Machine
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

The original poster explains the experiences of the ARMY fandom during May 2016 as "just an explosion of the tension/hate that was built up from the previous years and months."

Overview of Responses

As of February 2021, the original post had accrued 1,588 notes: 1,564 likes and 24 reblogs.

Excerpts

BTS faced prejudice and hate ever since their debut. They were mocked for their “hiphop” concept and their “childish” group name and were ignored because they appeared to not have the “visuals” of a usual idol group. People would say “Hey, who would be able to succeed with a name like ‘Bulletproof Boyscouts’- isn’t that too much ㅋㅋㅋ” and would continue to belittle BTS’ efforts with words like “Yeah, they’d never be able to reach the level of the Big Three,” “Why would they succeed when all of their members look like that,” and etc etc. With just one comment that took ten seconds to post, all of BTS’ efforts and hopes that they had during their trainee days became nothing. It was, as detailed many times before, really hard for BTS to break such prejudice especially since they faced it throughout the first two years of their debut. Then came HYYH pt 1, which was ironically released in May of 2015. Things began to look up because of BTS’ revamped image and the public friendliness of INU. They still faced prejudice and mockery but this was the point in time where the fandom began to grow in size. Sadly, this marked the first controversy that BTS faced.

On May 5th 2015, BTS won their first music show with INU. Though it was supposed to be a happy moment, as it took BTS two years to receive it, Korean internet forums began to become flooded with netizens accusing BTS of committing Sajaegi (when companies buy their own artists’ albums in bulk to inflate their position on the charts) because they managed to outrank artists such as TV*Q and S*per J*nior and B*g Bang.

https://www.koreaboo.com/uncategorized/bts-accused-sajaegi-ranking-charts/

http://netizenbuzz.blogspot.com/2015/05/pann-bts-and-sajaegi-suspicions.html

Though ARMYS (both Intl and Domestic; Russian Armys who ran a BTS Facebook page actually entered Entertalk on Pann to alleviate the situation, to no avail ) tried to clarify BTS’ sudden increase in sales by explaining there being a special fansigning event, overseas sellers buying BTS’ albums in bulk, and there being two versions to the album (which would motivate fans to buy more)- Antis/Netizens refused to let the sajaegi accusations go and would practically block their ears and eyes and continue to, and I kid you not, respond to the clarifications with “Yeah, BTS still committed Sajaegi~” even until the following year.

BTS saw such accusations and would subtweet things in response. For example:

May 14th 2015: Me and my people will win in the end. We will do it so naturally no one will be able to see us coming.

These type of accusations lasted until the following year and even beyond that. Whenever Armys would try to post things on Pann outside of Fantalk or when news articles on BTS would begin to trend, it would get bombarded with hate comments and more baseless rumors. As a result, Armys were drowned out and forced to isolate themselves from the rest of the Kpop fandom.

Here are some links to ARMY’s attempting to defend BTS by bringing up a Court order that ruled BTS/Bighit innocent of committing Sajaegi. (Note: Take a look at the date of the post)

https://pann-choa.blogspot.com/2015/10/enter-talk-we-wont-need-more-sajaegi.html

http://m.pann.nate.com/talk/328402699?order=B

Skip to May 2nd 2016, when BTS released HYYH Young Forever. This was the catalyst that burst all the tension BTS was facing. When BTS first released their concept photos, they were faced with ridiculous and absurd plagiarism accusations. They were accused of plagiarizing SH*Nee’s photoshoot for a Japanese magazine even though the campfire/nomadic-type concept is used by many artists. Then, when they dropped the Fire MV, they were accused of plagiarizing B*gBang’s outfits as both B*gBang and BTS wore clothes from the same Saint Laurents collection. Then slowly, these accusations began to reach further and stretch further. One fandom began to claim that BTS’ school trilogy , use of school uniform, and BTS’ logo (the bulletproof jacket with wings) copied from their group. Another fandom claimed that when BTS wore Sukajan jackets for Run era, they were actually copying off of their group and that the Run MV plagiarized their MV, and etc.

https://pann-choa.blogspot.com/2016/05/enter-talk-bts-is-again-in-plagiarism.html

https://pann-choa.blogspot.com/2016/05/enter-talk-bts-plagiarism-clarification.html

Random overlappings between different groups became viable evidence for plagiarism and suddenly even hair colors became trademarked features. I still remember how they even went as far as to claim a photo of Jungkook in a grocery cart was copied from someone else or that the way he sang “If You” on King of Masked Singer plagiarized B*gBang’s style.

It was so severe that all of the ranking posts on Pann’s Entertalk as well as other Korean platforms were just of different fandoms and netizens making senseless claims against BTS. Even though the timing would make no sense, even though the concepts were completely different, even though Armys would try so hard to defend the boys against such groundless rumors, the allegations just kept on piling up and up.

As a result, BTS began to become known as “Plagiarism Boys” or 표절소년단. And corresponding hate hashtags began to trend on twitter.

As seen in the above screenshot, the BTS members saw everything that was going on. When Hoseok tweeted “#INEEDU1stWIN”, antis trended “#PlagiarismBoys” and “#BangtanPlagiarism”

Keep in mind that when referred to as 표절소년단, antis did not just remain within the boundaries of plagiarism. No, they began to make other senseless rumors such as the members having sponsors (prostituting themselves to gain special benefit within the industry) or them having behavioral issues. Again, completely groundless.

Pann, Naver, the Qoo, and etc were also filled up with other types of anti-fan attacks. These included people making fun of Jungkook’s acne, the member’s looks (Namjoon faced the most severe hate), photoshopped edits of BTS, death threats, and even people bringing up BTS’ past sajaegi controversy again. If you tried to say anything nice about BTS or defend them, you would get bombarded with hate. I remember being on Pann during the worst of it and coming across a photoshopped edit of BTS with their eyes gouged out, hanging from a tree. It’s sad to say that these things were not uncommon.

If you were to go on BTS’ fantalk during this time, you would just see endless amounts of Armys suffering from panic attacks, crying, ranting, and just feeling so helpless. There was nothing we could do but wait it out.

Unfortunately, there seemingly was no end to it all. The wave of anti-fan attacks lasted for the whole month and even following it. The hate was not just prominent on Pann but also on Twitter.

On May 7th 2016 (five days after BTS’ album release), BTS held their HYYH: On Stage Epilogue Concert at the Olympic Gymnastics Stadium. This day was supposed to be a happy one. It was Yoongi’s dream to perform at the venue and it would mark the closing of an important, meaningful era for both BTS and Armys.

However, little did we know that a MAJOR, collective anti-fan attack was being planned against us.

Above is a notice that was sent out by a Korean Fanbase on twitter that was, as you can see for yourself, extremely successful. Led by a certain fandom, a five fandom union was created to attack BTS. Though K-ARMYS attempted to drown out the attack with their own hashtag “#BurnItAllUpBTS” by the end of the HYYH Epilogue Concert, “#BangtanPlagiarismControversy” was trending right below it.

There are many accounts of K-ARMYS exiting the venue, going on their twitter expecting tweets from BTS and Today’s Bangtan to only find the hate hashtag trending, and breaking down in tears. What was supposed to be a precious moment for us was ruined.

Even following the concert, up to a year afterwards, hate hashtags continued to trend. Below are some screenshots taken by K-ARMYS.

In the above screenshot, “#PlagiarismBoys” was trending at #5 in Korea. K-Armys attempted to drown it out again by trending their own hashtags “#HYYH” and “#YoungForeverBTS”

All together (taken from May 2016 up to the Spring Day release), these are all the hashtags that trended against BTS.

Even in the year of 2017, there were many times in which the hate hashtags were started up again. For example, during the 2017 Gaon Kpop Chart Awards, V*PS claimed that BTS had yet again plagiarized B*gBang’s usage of a No Signal screen. This caused, yet again, a revival of the senseless accusations that were made in 2016 despite there being so many official clarifications against it all.

I hope my post can properly portray the severity of the May 2016 events. Please please please don’t try to speak about it or say things like “we need to forgive ____” or try to downplay it if you weren’t there to witness it for yourself. It truly was a horrible time. I still remember the feeling of helplessness that I felt as I watched everything ensue. My hands were shaking, my heart was racing, and I just felt so so so miserable because, suddenly, everything that I loved about BTS was used against them. HYYH era, what was supposed to be the most beautiful moment in life for the boys, became tainted by these feelings. BTS’ name remains to be stained with the words “Plagiarism” and “Sajaegi” to this day.

Remember that all of this started from prejudice. People never thought that BTS would succeed and did everything to try to bring them down. They wanted them to fail. As a result, BTS suffered from possibly the worst collective anti-fan attack ever. FIVE FANDOMS attempted to defame BTS and purposely hurt them/their fans by spreading baseless rumors as truth for years and though BTS saw everything, we have yet to hear proper apologies and reflections. Instead, the same people who caused all this pain continue to play victim and pretend that they did nothing wrong.

From the lyrics of 2!3! to Hidden Track: Sea to their mixtapes to even the http://thejoonmoon.tumblr.com/post/168390102558/pjmksj-the-wings-tour-the-final-opening-vcr Wings Live Trilogy III Final VCR]

The pain that was inflicted on BTS ran deep. It wasn’t until this year that BTS was finally able to say that they were “no longer in pain or sad” that they were “proud and confident.” This is why there’s always a tinge of sadness within all of BTS’ concert ments, acceptance speeches, and interviews. TLDR: Don’t downplay the severity of the May “Terror” Month of 2016 and mindlessly tell others to forgive those who had participated in it if you weren’t there yourself.

Uses of the Meta Essay on Twitter

The meta essay is commonly linked to during conversations over historical revisionism by other K-pop fandoms when discussing BTS's early career during 2013-2016. The historical revisionism includes:

• Denial of the 2017 Mnet Asian Music Awards (MAMA) Blue House Petition - This petition was created as an official South Korean government Blue House petition (the executive office of the South Korean government) in an attempt to take back the grand prize or dasaeng awarded to BTS for Artist of the Year in 2017. Many EXO-Ls thought the prize belonged to a group named EXO instead. Many fellow EXO-Ls did reprimand their fellow fans for using the government petition system for fanwars. The award was seen as shocking because it was the first time in MAMA history that an artist was awarded Artist of the Year in two years in a row and often dasaengs were not awarded to artists outside of the Big Three (K-pop) companies SM Entertainment, JYP Entertainment, and YG Entertainment.
• Denial of the death threat to BTS RM during the 2015 BTS LIVE TRILOGY EP. 2: THE RED BULLET Tour - In 2015, a Twitter user tweeted a picture of a gun. The picture was accompanied by a disturbing message. "Just brought my gun," said the Twitter user. "It's about to go down. RIP Namjoon." The Twitter post was accompanied by the event hashtag, #TRBinNYC.. This resulted in the cancellation of the concert.
• Denial of death threats to BTS Jimin during the 2018 Love Yourself Tour - On May 10, 2018, a post from an anonymous user on the Curious Cat question-oriented app was shared on Twitter by a fan of BTS using the handle @TaehyungsBaby95, alerting the Fort Worth police of a potential threat against the Korean pop star. The user wrote that they were intending to shoot Jimin “in Fort Worth on September 16 while he sings Serendipity.” They provided graphic, disturbing details about their intent, along with allegations regarding racism within BTS’ fandom aimed at black fans of the group, which Buzzfeed reported primarily takes place on anonymous apps like Curious Cat. The Fort Worth Police Department’s Twitter account responded later that day to say that they “are aware of this threat and it is currently being investigated/looked into by our Intel unit.”