Korean-American singer Jay Park (or Jaebum) has quit Korean pop group 2PM, at least temporary, following public outrage on some of his old online remarks which was revealed earlier this month…
“Korea is gay. I hate Koreans. I wanna come back… Korea is whack, but everyone thinks I’m like the illest rapper wen i suck nuts at rappin.”
The supposedly private comment was made on MySpace in 2005, but was only exposed recently by the netizens. The singer was fast to issue an apology, but couldn’t put out the raging hatred.
I pity the singer. What he said was stupid, but it was just a rant from a teenager who left home to begin a new life at a foreign country. There’s probably a lack of cultural understanding between native and oversea Koreans… and culture shock could lead to stupid emotions sometimes.
He was wrong, but his mistake is understandable, and certainly forgiveable… thus it was a bit surprising to see him quitting so soon. I thought that he would endure the criticism and prove that he has changed for good; but the abuses were probably too much for him. He has returned to his home town Seattle since.
It’s not the end of the story; some 1500 fans gathered at Jay’s agency earlier today in a well mannered demonstration to protest against the company for not doing enough to help their idol, and also to demand on having the singer back into the group.
Not really a fan of 2PM, but I hope the other members’ future is not seriously dampened by the saga, regardless of whether the one in exile is joining back or not.
