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

Stray Kids Fans Outraged At Met Gala Photographers’ “Racist” Treatment Of K-Pop BandStray Kids Fans Outraged At Met Gala Photographers’ Treatment Of K-Pop BandMet Gala Photographers Anger K-Pop Fans Over “Racist” Comments Toward Stray KidsK-Pop Fans Were Ecstatic To See Stray Kids At The Met Gala—Now They’re Angry At How They Were Treated“They’re Gonna Start Performing”: Met Gala Photographers Anger K-Pop Fans Over “Racist” CommentsMet Gala Photographers Blasted Over Treatment Of K-Pop First Timers Stray KidsMet Gala Photographers Slammed For “Racist” Treatment Of Stray Kids K-Pop BandPeople Demand Vogue To Take Action After Paparazzi Mock K-Pop Band Stray Kids At The Met GalaStray Kids Made K-Pop History At The Met Gala, But Fans Are Outraged At How They Were TreatedFans Outraged After Met Gala Photographers Compare Members Of K-Pop Group Stray Kids To “Robots”
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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.

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    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.”

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    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

    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. 

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    “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.

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    “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

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    Marina Urman

    Marina Urman

    Writer, BoredPanda staff

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    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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    Marina Urman

    Marina Urman

    Writer, BoredPanda staff

    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.

    Karina Babenok

    Karina Babenok

    Author, BoredPanda staff

    Read more »

    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.

    Read less »

    Karina Babenok

    Karina Babenok

    Author, BoredPanda staff

    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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    Mimi La Souris
    Community Member
    7 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    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 ?

    Carole Ansperger
    Community Member
    7 months ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    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.

    Weasel Wise
    Community Member
    7 months ago

    This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

    Yep. We should be less concerned about blatant, public racism being taken nonchalantly and that it's apparently so commonplace that many don't see anything wrong with prejudice behavior. (So, so, so, sooooo much sarcasm.) On a very serious note, you may wanna do a bit of self evaluation considering that in the past hour you've commented on BP about how parents shouldn't be scorned for saying absolutely cruel things to children (as long as the adult is upset it's okay in your eyes and a simple mistake to basically tell an orphan that they're not loved and only good for their free labor) and then believing that racism should be further down on the list of things that outrage people. Hopefully your children are wiser, better, kinder humans than you are.

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    Mimi La Souris
    Community Member
    7 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    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 ?

    Carole Ansperger
    Community Member
    7 months ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    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.

    Weasel Wise
    Community Member
    7 months ago

    This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

    Yep. We should be less concerned about blatant, public racism being taken nonchalantly and that it's apparently so commonplace that many don't see anything wrong with prejudice behavior. (So, so, so, sooooo much sarcasm.) On a very serious note, you may wanna do a bit of self evaluation considering that in the past hour you've commented on BP about how parents shouldn't be scorned for saying absolutely cruel things to children (as long as the adult is upset it's okay in your eyes and a simple mistake to basically tell an orphan that they're not loved and only good for their free labor) and then believing that racism should be further down on the list of things that outrage people. Hopefully your children are wiser, better, kinder humans than you are.

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