busanwings
| Name: | Stephen |
| Date(s): | 2017 |
| Type: | K-Pop Stan Twitter |
| Fandom: | K-Pop, BTS |
| Scope: | |
| URL: | Twitter account unavailable CuriousCat (Wayback, 2020) |
| Other: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
busanwings (also known as crackerphobic) was an controversial BTS stan Twitter account, active around 2017. It was confirmed that the owner of the account, Stephen, had actually gone on to become an idol within the industry, debuting in boygroup P1Harmony under the name Keeho.
The account sparked controversy due to being an EXO anti, making sexually explicit tweets about BTS, and allegedly bullying black fans. Keeho admitted to owning the account, but denied making the controversial or racist comments, stating that the account was owned by 7 other people.
Controversy
Fans who knew the account, said he was an infamous EXO anti. He was said to engage in fan wars with BTS antis.
Though not quite anti, one of the few saved tweets include:
exo has been in the industry for so long and bts that was only called a rookie group a year and a half ago is already catching up... sad ):
Fans uncovered that he had made sexually explicit tweets about BTS, specifically one about tickling Jimin's balls:
he invites you backstage at their wings concert to tickle his balls for seven hours straight... wwyd[photo of Jimin]
A group of fans also accused him of racism. Reportedly, he would bully black female EXO fans, by saving their photos to use "against" them.
His Twitter account was deactivated. The account's associated CuriousCat was still available for some time. There was one comment regarding the bullying:
ask: you literally cyber bully girls and shit on every group and you advertise the fact that you're korean lol youre problematic how do you expect to be an idolresponse: never cyberbullied girls unless i had a reason to, never shit on groups im not anti to anyone, and what's wrong with saying im korean? i can't be proud of my nationality? lmfao u don't know me[1]
Becoming an Idol
The account had made a number of vague tweets to becoming an idol:
y'all jus need to know if i deactivate and y'all see me on tv all of a sudden don't question me that's a whole other person[1]
The old Stephan can't come to the phone now... He's dead[2]
He had also posted a few selfies and a link to his Instagram account by the name "@keehono". The account was deactivated towards the end of 2017.
Debuting in P1Harmony
In 2020, Keeho was announced as a member of K-Pop boy group P1Harmony under FNC Entertainment. Some fans immediately recognised his name and face from the busanwing Twitter, causing immediate controversy. Some fans alleged in Twitter threads that he made racism comments and bullied POC women. Some fans asked for his expulsion from the group. His label FNC released a statement, confirming the fan account belonged to Keeho but refuting the allegations of racism.
Official Statement
Keeho's company FNC Entertainment made an official statement addressing the allegations:
We would like to inform you regarding P1Harmony KEEHO.
KEEHO spent his school days in Canada as a K-pop fan. At that time, he ran a fan account on social media with seven acquaintances he knew online. An account known as KEEHO’s was co-used by sharing passwords with the acquaintances, which was closed at the end of 2017. Since then, he did not used social media anymore. Certain problematic posts which recently became an issue were not written by KEEHO. However, it is certainly KEEHO’s fault that he should have noticed the problem with the account and should have taken actions against it but failed to do so. We apologize to the artists who have been affected by this incident and to all those who have been hurt.
The claim that KEEHO was racist is absolutely untrue. Through the growth environment that of as Asian in North America, he is more sensitive to racial discrimination than anyone else, and he knows that it is something that should not happen. One of the publishers who mentioned this specific issue has written malicious postings based on personal feelings toward the acquaintance of KEEHO. And after recognizing it was not true, the publisher confirmed to have deleted the post by him/herself.
KEEHO tried to become a singer with respect for K-pop artists, and all K-pop artists were his role models. We hope that the misunderstanding of the facts will be resolved as soon as possible, and we ask you to watch him grow into a more mature artist.[3]
Fan Comment
Some time after the initial controversy, one fan posted to r/kpopthoughts admitting they knew Keeho, during his days on Stan Twitter:
I’m writing this post bc after coming back and paying attention imagine my shock to find out one of my Twitter mutuals became a literal kpop star? Like a literal boy group member. We were in group chats, we used to FaceTime and rabbit each other until issues happened on twitter - it was beyond shocking to see I’ve spent my life as a fan and never imagined myself having known someone pre-debut. It’s crazy and mind boggling considering the type of person he was atleast back then including his sibling. I don’t think they’re the worst people on earth but their combination of wealth and a privileged childhood created two very classist and ignorant people- a tale as old as time.Don’t worry. I have the critical thinking skills to know not all idols are good people ofc- ofc. I just think that after rediscovering kpop-and learning this, there’s a new sense of realism here and this really solidified that for me. Money and power is truly all it will ever take to make bad things go away.[4]
Further Reading
References
- ^ a b c Presumably deleted, from a screenshot in a tweet, by yvessemble, posted on September 4, 2020
- ^ Archived version of crackerphobic's CuriousCat
- ^ Official statement by FNC_ENT, posted on September 4, 2020
- ^ I found out I knew someone predebut and I’m going crazy, posted on r/kpopthoughts, on August 25, 2022