2NEI 'I Don't Care': Did police shoot son, mother for singing the song? Fans outraged!
MANILA, PHILIPPINES: On Sunday December 20, Frank Gregario, a 25-year-old man, was playing with an air cannon. Jonel Nuezca, his neighbor who also happened to be a police official, confronted Frank about the noise, which led to an argument resulting in Nuezca wanting to arrest Gregario. At this point it is alleged that Frank's mother, 52-year-old Sonya Gregorio, decided to step in, questioning how Nuezca could arrest her son without any proper warrant or cause.
Nuezca's young daughter allegedly tried to warn the mother and son that her father really was a cop and yelled, "My father is a policeman," when Sonya reportedly began to sing 2NE1's 'I Don't Care'. According to a report in Allkpop, this provoked the policeman into shooting the 52-year-old woman in the head and then shooting her son as well. A video of the incident has reportedly surfaced online.
The internet immediately went into conspiracy-theory-mode wondering if it was the song Sonya sang that led the cop to shoot mother and son. Many of the band's Filipino fans used the hashtag #JusticeforSonyaGregario to express their belief that this could not be the song's fault and it is the police official who was to blame. One fan shared a screenshot from a YouTube comments section that read, "Angry at the murderer, not the song because the women (woman) die as a proud woman protecting her son." The caption read, "Just saw this on YT comment. not 2ne1 fault."
2NE1 disbanded a while ago, however, the songs are still popular around the world. So on Tuesday when the tragic news broke, fans of the band came together to defend the song. One fan shared, "Blaming 2ne1 songs won't make you cool. they are innocent," on their Twitter handle along with a screenshot that read, "People should use 'I Don't Care' as an anthem for justice. Not turn the song into something saddening and depressing. That's not the purpose of the song. I wish people wouldn't say I can never listen to this chorus again. Park Bom sung the chorus. Don't alienate the song. If anything sing it with pride. #JusticeforSonyaGregario."
read this.
— Fairy (@jjinbin) December 21, 2020
blaming 2nei songs won't make you cool. they are innocent. pic.twitter.com/9JtW97JsH2
just saw this on YT comment.
— ʏᴀɴ • IA• (@_itsyanyan) December 21, 2020
not 2nei fault, a song of katapangan and paninindigan. pic.twitter.com/UZt9xP6uN9