It’s not easy being an idol, what with the existences of sasaeng fans, the strict body management, and their tedious schedules. Every now and then, they have to deal with the hate comments from anti-fans too.
BTS’ Jimin has fallen victim to a few vicious anti-fans, who sent death threats to him via Twitter. It all started when several users accused BTS of sexually harassing fans and claimed that Jimin hates international fans.
A few days ago, a few toxic users started to spread false rumours about Jimin on social media. This was followed by an accusation from Twitter user Selja (@AinsleyPaisley), who accused Jungkook of sexually assaulting a Brazillian fan. She even shared a DM conversation of the situation, but later retracted her accusations, stating that those were photoshopped and were fake. Twitter has also suspended Selja’s account.
Unfortunately, these false accusations has sparked hate comments from other anti-fans, which include death threats from other Twitter users.
2 of the users under fire are @AntiBTSJimin and @AntiBTSAnti, who were particularly brutal in their tweets against Jimin. The persons uploaded photos of guns and even posted gory photos of slaughtered animals.
They also threatened to shoot Jimin during BTS’ upcoming concert in the US and urged ARMYs to “take this threat seriously”. AntiBTSAnti also exclaimed that they and their accomplices will “kill Jimin if possible”.
The person also casually name dropped Selja, stating that “Selja is ready and I too”. However, other than that, there are no evidences connecting the 2 users.
As of press time, Twitter has also suspended the user.
Although a reverse image search ran by allkpop showed that the gun image was taken from a French blog, ARMYs are not taking any chances.
They have started to trend #ArmysWillProtectJimin on Twitter to create awareness and alert BTS. The more proactive ones have also alerted authorities and security personnel at the Honda Centre about these threats. The Los Angeles Police Department and Anaheim Police Department have also been made aware of the situation.
Regardless of the situation, death threats are never the solution. We hope Jimin and BTS remain unaffected by this as they have done nothing wrong to deserve the hate.
UPDATE (29th March):
Looks like #ArmysWillProtectJimin worked! BTS’ label Big Hit Entertainment released a statement regarding Jimin’s death threats.
The entertainment company said:
“We think it’s simply a joke by an anti-fan, but we’re preparing just in case something happens. We’re planning on fortifying security by working with local police for their California tour stops.”
Sources: allkpop, Koreaboo, Koreaboo (2).
