Nevermind the TayTay (Taylor Swift) and Nicki Minaj Twitter spat. Because in another piece of “Bad Blood“-related news, sh*t just got real.
It all started with this tweet by one Blackjack (aka 2NE1 fan) who was convinced that “Bad Blood” ripped off K-Pop idol girl group 2NE1’s music video for “Come Back Home”:
We know, right?
When you compare the screenshots side by side like that, sure, anyone in the right mind would think that it has been plagiarised lock, stock, and barrel. This is because both music videos were filmed with a “futuristic” concept, with similar costumes and props. But if you’re anything like us, in the sense that you’re both a TayTay as well as a 2NE1 fan, then you’d know that the “stories” for both music videos are different.
Here are the music videos, for your easy reference:
2NE1’s “Come Back Home”, released on 4th March 2014:
Taylor Swift’s “Bad Blood”, released on 17th May 2015:
Unfortunately, several people have since added their opinions on the issue, and the story was picked up by Jezebel.
Jezebel’s article pointed a finger at “Bad Blood” music video director Joseph Kahn and made it imperative to include the fact that he’s “South Korean-born” and there for “unlikely” that he would’ve missed a high-profile video from arguable one of K-Pop’s most celebrated idol girl groups. The writer also dug up a Korea Times article and quoted (or should we say, misquoted?) Joseph as saying that he was attempting to get back to his “Korean roots” and that he “pays full attention to what’s going on” in his field because it’s his job.
What the writer failed to mention was that, also taken from the same Korea Times article, because Joseph immigrated to the US when he was only 3 years old, he doesn’t actually understand Korean. At all. In fact, he said:
My grandma doesn’t speak a word of English and when she communicates with me, she thinks I speak Korean, but I really don’t. She’ll have full on conversations with me and I won’t understand a single word.
Much less pay any attention to K-Pop. As for the “Korean roots” reference, Joseph actually meant his family.
Long story short, Joseph picked up on what Jezebel wrote about him and slammed the writer for tainted his name by suggesting that he plagiarised 2NE1’s “Come Back Home” music video. He took to Twitter to declare his stand on the issue and even included snarky comments while he was as it.
In case you missed his slew of tweets, here:
https://twitter.com/JosephKahn/status/623999823931289600
https://twitter.com/JosephKahn/status/624001900573097984
https://twitter.com/JosephKahn/status/624041749854355457
https://twitter.com/JosephKahn/status/624047945650810880
https://twitter.com/JosephKahn/status/624048171581202432
https://twitter.com/JosephKahn/status/624050978182922240
https://twitter.com/JosephKahn/status/624055509977448448
https://twitter.com/JosephKahn/status/624121899103031296
https://twitter.com/JosephKahn/status/624273329118183424
https://twitter.com/JosephKahn/status/624276922185445376
https://twitter.com/JosephKahn/status/624305312749596677
On top of that, he has also written a complaint. Presumably to Jezebel directly.
Read it here:
I need to lodge a complaint against an article you posted about me where the writer accused me of plagiarizing a Korean music video on Bad Blood. 1. I never saw that video and 2. all of the comparisons are common sci fi tropes – city, cars, helmets, body scans, flares – all recropped without context. Furthermore recording screen grabs and accusing others of copying their groups is apparently a very common hobby of Kpop fans. If you view both videos, aside from the uncontextual limited screen grabs, you will quickly see they are completely different videos.
But an even more questionable tactic of your writer is where she accused me of likely copying because of I am Korean born:
I never said I was going back to my “Korean roots.” The article she is mentioning is here:
The Korea Times author wrote “Roots” in the title in context of questions he was asking about my family. There is never any mention of Kpop in the article. The quote about “my attention” is in context to the business structure of my field:
The implication your writer is making is explicit: I am a foreigner born overseas and I am trying to reconnect with my birth country and have obvious motive to copy it.
I do not listen to Kpop. I am American. And this is an unethical, slandering article.
Our take? To be honest, we don’t blame the guy.
What’s your take on the issue, though? Feel free to discuss it in the comments box below.
Sources: Jezebel, Joseph Kahn’s Twitter, Korea Times.
