‘I have nothing against South Korea, you can’t accuse me of xenophobia only because this boy band is from South Korea.’
BTS are one of the most successful and influential pop groups in the world right now, despite living at a time when racist violence and hate against the Asian community is raging due to ignorant misunderstanding of COVID-19. It’s appalling that this kind of prejudice is so prevalent still, and normalized to the point that German radio DJ Matthias Matuschik for the station Bayern 3 compared these monumental artists to coronavirus last week. Live on the air on Wednesday, February 24, Matuschik played the BTS cover of Coldplay’s “Fix You” that the group performed as part of an MTV Unplugged show, and proceeded to insult them. According to the Associated Press, the DJ dubbed BTS’ cover “blasphemy” — though it hews extremely close to the tone and delivery of the original — and compared the band to “some crappy virus that hopefully there will be a vaccine for soon as well.” According to AP’s summary of Matuschik’s on-air comments, he began to backpedal claiming “I have nothing against South Korea, you can’t accuse me of xenophobia only because this boy band is from South Korea. I have a car from South Korea. I have the coolest car around.” Finally he added that as penance for their version of “Fix You,” BTS “will be vacationing in North Korea for the next 20 years.” The radio station and the DJ himself have both since issued apologies for the DJ’s comments, which are below. Bayern 3’s statement: We apologize unreservedly for the remarks made by presenter Matthias Matuschik in his live broadcast. His choice of words to comment on BTS were unacceptable. Both he himself and we at BAYERN 3 know that it is not enough to simply intend a different meaning. If statements are perceived by many people as offensive or racist, then they were. However, we feel the need to stress that Matthias’ social engagement to promote a peaceful togetherness among people (in Bavaria) is testament to his conviction that everyone must be treated equally — regardless of their nationality, culture, skin color, sexual orientation or religion.
