Stray Kids Fans Outraged At Met Gala Photographers’ Treatment Of K-Pop Band

Fans of the K-pop group Stray Kids are demanding Vogue Magazine take action against a group of photographers who allegedly displayed racist and disrespectful behavior to members of the band at the Met Gala.

On Monday night (May 6), the South Korean band Stray Kids made history by becoming the first K-pop group to attend fashion’s biggest night at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

After much anticipation from their fans, all eight members of the group— Bang Chan, Lee Know, Changbin, Hyunjin, Han, Felix, Seungmin, and I.N—arrived at the event, looking sharp in their Tommy Hilfiger suits and coats. The band has previously collaborated with the American designer label, starring in a campaign earlier this year.

Stray Kids made history on Monday (May 6) by becoming the first K-pop group to attend the prestigious Met Gala

Image credits: Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images

Despite the enthusiasm for Stray Kids attending the prestigious event, people were indignant at the paparazzi’s treatment of the men as they posed for photos beneath the white-and-green steps.

A viral video captures a group of photographers criticizing the artists’ facial expressions. One of them can be heard saying, “I’ve never seen so many unemotional faces before,” to which another one responded, “They’re like robots.”

When the men removed their coats to reveal their suits, preparing for another round of pictures, the first photographer yelled out, “Now, let’s do it with feelings!” He then turned to his colleague mockingly, saying, “They’re gonna start performing, right? Everybody, jump!”

Despite the enthusiasm for the group’s attendance, fans denounced the “racist” remarks directed at the men by a pair of photographers present at the event

This was supposed to be a happy event. We were excited to see Stray Kids take the runway because they are GLOBAL ICONS to have blatant racism, rudeness, and unprofessionalism by so many people in the industry is appalling. This should not have happened.
STRAY KIDS DESERVED… pic.twitter.com/a6EX7sECUh
— ♡ Dae Bang ♡ (@skztinypixie) May 6, 2024

Fans of the group took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to express their outrage at the paparazzi comments.

“This was supposed to be a happy event. We were excited to see Stray Kids take the runway because they are GLOBAL ICONS; to have blatant racism, rudeness, and unprofessionalism by so many people in the industry is appalling. This should not have happened,” wrote user @skztinypixie.

“STRAY KIDS DESERVED BETTER. We ask @voguemagazine #MetGala to make this right and to handle this professionally. A formal apology for how rude each photographer was. Stray Kids understand English, you dunces,” the post continued.

“They understood every word you said, and that breaks my heart because they were looking forward to this event.”

The Met Gala, held annually on the first Monday of May, is organized and presided over by Anna Wintour, Vogue’s editor-in-chief.

It is not clear whether the photographers were hired by the event’s organizers directly or what company they responded to.

In a viral clip, the photographers can be heard mockingly comparing the artists to “robots” and asking whether the men would “jump” and “perform“

Image credits: Cindy Ord/MG24/Getty Images

The situation led many to believe that the comments were motivated by racism and xenophobia.

“Western reporters can be super disrespectful to foreign artists (especially if they’re Asian). I stopped being surprised long ago after seeing how some of them used to cover BTS and K-pop in general,” someone said.

“It’s just so embarrassing to see such old people act like children. Your job is to just keep quiet, take pictures, and go. There’s no need for this racism and hate,” another person wrote.

“I don’t care if paparazzi are supposed to be rude or not. I just know that what they did is called racism, and it has to be punished,” a third X user agreed.

With more than 8 million monthly listeners on platforms such as Spotify and more than 29 million followers on Instagram, Stray Kids is ranked as one of the most popular K-pop groups in the world.

During an interview on the red carpet with the South Korean group, designer Tommy Hilfiger accidentally revealed that the eight-piece band will embark upon a 40-city tour soon.

“What they did is called racism and it has to be punished,” a fan demanded

Stray Kids Fans Outraged At Met Gala Photographers’ Treatment Of K-Pop Band

Marina is a journalist at Bored Panda. Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, she holds a Bachelor of Social Science. In her spare time, you can find her baking, reading, or watching a docuseries. Her main areas of interest are pop culture, literature, and education.

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As a visual editor in the News team, I look for the most interesting pictures and comments to make each post interesting and informative through images, so that you aren't reading only blocks of text. I joined Bored Panda not that long ago, but in this short amount of time I have covered a wide range of topics: from true crime to Taylor Swift memes (my search history is very questionable because of that).In my freetime, I enjoy spending time at the gym, gaming, binging Great British Bake Off and adding yet another tattoo artist that I would love to get a tattoo from to my pinterest board.

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What do you think ?

POST

Mimi La Souris 6 months ago

real question, could you explain to me what is racist in his comments ? I see some kpop clips and interviews in Korean TV shows, they looks very organized, very formatted, there is not much natural, spontaneous for me so their attitudes are not a surprise, they look cold. and this moment of the gala is about extravaganza, show, excessiveness, they don’t match the mood. I understand the paparazzi asks for some action. i miss something ?

20points

Katchen 6 months ago

I also don’t see what was racist about the clip.

5points

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Yuvika 5 months ago

It's mainly that they were mocking them and telling them to "jump" and "perform" just for their entertainment. Western celebrities wouldn't have been treated like that and the paparazzi probably acted like that because they thought they wouldn't understand, which is mainly why it's racist.

0points

Cat Chat 6 months ago

Maybe that's the racism right there? I eas actually wondering until I read your comment. If this is just normal for how Kpop bands are (I have no idea if it is or not), then judging them for "acting like a Kpop band" IS racist. If it's just something that only this band does as a gimmick, then it's just odd behavior to attend events that almost demand being wild.

0points

Carole Ansperger 6 months ago (edited)

One of the reporters shouted "arigato" to them (it wasn't shown on the video, but it happened a few seconds later) and suggesting they are to start performing - these were clearly racist stereotypes. And the photographers apparently forgot that they were a globally renowned group and hence they understood English, not to mention two native English speakers. Respect for them that they haven't snapped. I probably would if I were in this situation.

15points

The lesbian knitting panda 6 months ago

I heard that when they were taking off their coats someone said 'I'm going to get covid'

12points

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Ross “Sarcastic Dad” 6 months ago

This feels way down the list of things we should be outraged about.

8points

Weasel Wise 6 months ago

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megasmacky 6 months ago

I'm still trying to figure how they were racist. Is it racist because you're just assuming that because they're Korean, any criticism is automatically racist? Is it racist to say these bland, manufactured, flavor of the month personalities with very little in the way of real musical talent, singing words they didn't write, to music that was churned out by a computer in 10 minutes, are, artistically speaking, zeros?

4points