MANILA, Philippines – A Pinoy TikTok star unwittingly started the #CancelKorea trend on Twitter as angry Koreans insulted Filipinos over her Japanese ‘rising sun’ tattoo.
#CancelKorea remains the top trending hashtag on Twitter, trending along with #CancelToxicKoreans and #cancelracism with over 341k tweets. But the trending topic received mixed reactions, with many Filipinos pointing out that though South Koreans are showing racism over this topic now, a lot of Filipinos are actually racist, too!
But the online ‘war’ apparently began when Filipino Tiktok star Bella Poarch posted a video of her dancing to a funky banjo beat. This would have been just another TikTok video, except that it caught the attention of many Koreans due to the tattoo of Japan’s rising sun flag on her arm.
What Bella did not know is that the rising sun flag might look nice but it is associated with the war crimes of Japan during the World War II. It was the flag that the Japan military flew as they occupied Korea and part of China. It is so bad for those under Japanese occupation that for many, getting a tattoo of the flag is akin to getting a tattoo of the swastika!
Koreans would quickly swarm the comments section with angry comments, even insults, as they slammed Bella over the ‘evil’ tattoo. A shocked Bella quickly apologized, saying that she had gotten the tattoo without really knowing that it had an evil history.
“I’m very sorry if my tattoo offends you. I love Korea, please forgive me. I would never do anything to hurt anyone,” Bella quickly apologized.
“When I got the tattoo in March, I did not know the meaning behind it. I only found out when Koreans told me about it on TikTok. So, I had it.”
She added that she will have the tattoo removed, though that would take some time because her appointment got moved to November.
Despite her quick apology, angry Koreans continued to flood the comments section with hurtful words and insults, not just against Bella but to Filipinos as a whole.
Insulted, many Filipinos took to Twitter to express their disgust over the issue and called for Koreans to apologize as #CancelKorea trended. Considering that millions of Pinoys are K-pop fans, many considered this racism issue as a personal insult.
“Bella already apologized and she said that she will cover her tattoo. She's trying to correct her mistake but what's all this toxic Koreans calling us uneducated, ugly, poor and dark? this doesn't sit right with me. #cancelkorea #ApologizeToFilipinos,” one netizen wrote.
But other Pinoys weren’t as affected as the others.
“Why is #cancelkorea trending lmao.. when toxic Filipinos make fun of male idols for ‘being gay’ or stereotyping Koreans for doing plastic surgery u never saw them #Cancelphilippines. smh get over yourselves. some people are racist,” one observed.
— Joy Adalia, The Summit Express
#CancelKorea remains the top trending hashtag on Twitter, trending along with #CancelToxicKoreans and #cancelracism with over 341k tweets. But the trending topic received mixed reactions, with many Filipinos pointing out that though South Koreans are showing racism over this topic now, a lot of Filipinos are actually racist, too!
But the online ‘war’ apparently began when Filipino Tiktok star Bella Poarch posted a video of her dancing to a funky banjo beat. This would have been just another TikTok video, except that it caught the attention of many Koreans due to the tattoo of Japan’s rising sun flag on her arm.
What Bella did not know is that the rising sun flag might look nice but it is associated with the war crimes of Japan during the World War II. It was the flag that the Japan military flew as they occupied Korea and part of China. It is so bad for those under Japanese occupation that for many, getting a tattoo of the flag is akin to getting a tattoo of the swastika!
Koreans would quickly swarm the comments section with angry comments, even insults, as they slammed Bella over the ‘evil’ tattoo. A shocked Bella quickly apologized, saying that she had gotten the tattoo without really knowing that it had an evil history.
“I’m very sorry if my tattoo offends you. I love Korea, please forgive me. I would never do anything to hurt anyone,” Bella quickly apologized.
“When I got the tattoo in March, I did not know the meaning behind it. I only found out when Koreans told me about it on TikTok. So, I had it.”
She added that she will have the tattoo removed, though that would take some time because her appointment got moved to November.
Despite her quick apology, angry Koreans continued to flood the comments section with hurtful words and insults, not just against Bella but to Filipinos as a whole.
Insulted, many Filipinos took to Twitter to express their disgust over the issue and called for Koreans to apologize as #CancelKorea trended. Considering that millions of Pinoys are K-pop fans, many considered this racism issue as a personal insult.
I'm a kpop fan and I love Korean but the way they didn't respect Filipinos🇵🇭 are not right.Koreans are small also like Filipinos🇵🇭,Koreans have noses like Filipinos🇵🇭.🇵🇭So🇵🇭 don't call Filipinos Dumd!!!!! ITAAS ANG BANDERA NG PILIPINAS!!!!!🇵🇭🇵🇭🇵🇭🇵🇭🇵🇭🇵🇭🇵🇭🇵🇭🇵🇭🇵🇭🇵🇭🇵🇭🇵🇭🇵🇭#cancelkorea pic.twitter.com/5hUrk2LIF1— Jane (@Jjkangelica) September 8, 2020
“Bella already apologized and she said that she will cover her tattoo. She's trying to correct her mistake but what's all this toxic Koreans calling us uneducated, ugly, poor and dark? this doesn't sit right with me. #cancelkorea #ApologizeToFilipinos,” one netizen wrote.
But other Pinoys weren’t as affected as the others.
“Why is #cancelkorea trending lmao.. when toxic Filipinos make fun of male idols for ‘being gay’ or stereotyping Koreans for doing plastic surgery u never saw them #Cancelphilippines. smh get over yourselves. some people are racist,” one observed.
— Joy Adalia, The Summit Express
