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Why is GFriend's Sowon being trolled? Flirty Instagram photos with Nazi soldier mannequin slammed as 'disgusting'

Sowon uploaded and deleted the snaps but a Jewish K-Pop fan saw the images and proceeded to share them as 'she should be held accountable for her actions'

GFriend's Sowon has made headlines for all the wrong reasons after she posted a series of controversial pictures with a male mannequin, wearing a Nazi uniform, on Instagram. In the pictures, which were posted by Sowon on January 30, 2021, the K-pop star can be seen posing affectionately with the life-size figure. The uniform seen on the statue was worn by Nazi soldiers during World War II. The jacket and collar feature patches denoting rank, while the artillery uniform cap is designed with a swastika insignia. Shortly after Sowon uploaded the snaps to Instagram, they were soon deleted. However, one Jewish K-Pop fan on Twitter saw the images and proceeded to share them, letting their fans know the violent history behind the statues.

The person wrote, "tw// nazism, nazi - - - i'm disappointed of s0won but i'm glad she deleted.. she needs to apologize tho.. nazis are not friends or someone you can hug or look so lovingly at, they are killers, they killed 6 million jews out of them 1.5 million jewish children /srs"

Within a few hours, the pictures got thousands of engagements on social media. Originally, fans thought they were taken in a museum. However, it appears that they were actually taken on the set of a VCR for GFRIEND’s Walpurgis Night album comeback show. The set captured in the photos, appears to be an existing building housing historical artifacts rather than a set created by Source Music. However, the name of the location is yet unknown.

After the pictures went viral, fans of both GFRIEND and other groups are calling on Sowon to apologize for causing hurt and offense to people around the world. Many fans are also angry from her for posing with the statue to begin with. Some fans believe that it's unlikely that she knows the meaning of the uniform while posing the pictures. While some are claiming that the Holocaust and surrounding events are well-taught in Korean schools, giving Sowon no excuse to be oblivious.

One Internet user said, "Buddys, stop arguing. Sowon needs to be held accountable, she needs to learn from this, she needs to APOLOGIZE." While another one explained: "It doesn't matter if Sowon is in a museum. It doesn't matter if she didn't recognize the uniform. The picture is insensitive and ignorant. Lack of hateful intent does not mean actions shouldn't have accountability." The person further added: "If you're trying to clear searches or justify this you need to reflect fr."

Slamming Sowon another one said, "tw nazis, holocaust, anti- semitism to everyone who’s defending sowon with “koreans don’t know, etc” here is me talking to my KOREAN dad who went to school in KOREA whether he knows about the holocaust. he clearly knows and learned what the holocaust is. so stop excusing this." The person further wrote, "tw nazis, holocaust, anti-semitism continuation of me talking to him. he went to school in korea when he was in the 80’s but they learned about world war two, since it also ties in with korean history with japan, and also learned abt the holocaust. stop defending her"

One fan tweeted: "this gfriend situation is sh*tty and probably a little much after holocaust remembrance day was like, literally last week... so if any of my followers is jewish/roma and you need to share your gofundme or need to buy food or anything, link it under here and everyone else share it." While another one said, "tw // nazism , holocaust - blocklist of ppl who are defending gfriend/starting fanwars/being insensitive about the h0l0caust -"

 One fan expressed : "as a fan of gfriend, i am extremely disappointed in sowon. she should be held accountable for her actions. really i had no idea about the kitler thing,, its disgusting. i don’t understand why ppl are trying to ‘clear the searches’, no this SHOULD be brought to light."