Jay Park courts controversy again, says 'there isn't an artist as versatile as me' and gets trashed for racism
Another day, another Jay Park dragging. Despite being in the music industry for a long time Park seems to trend only when he says things he really has no business saying.
This time, it appears he has crowned himself the most versatile artist and naturally, that is not going down too well with people on social media.
Park jumped on Twitter recently to say, "there isn't an artist as versatile as me......that is all" and successfully set himself up for several hours of internet trolling and dragging.
"Everytime Jay park is trending is because he said some dumb shit it's never about the music," tweeted one user.
Another commented on how often a divided K-pop community seems to always come together when Park tweets: "Lord the best thing about Kpop stan twitter is seeing everyone come together to defeat ultimate evil: Jay Park."
Many highlighted that there are several versatile artists that exist, some of whom have been around for decades longer than the rapper. One user tweeted, "jay park is really tryna claim he’s the most diverse artiste ever when björk exists.."
As expected, the ARMY showed up to the dragging as well to talk about how versatile BTS is. One user tweeted, "Jay park thinking he’s the most versatile artist when a whole bangtan sonyeondan exists... que triste."
They also, however, jumped in on the conversation about racism and cultural appropriation — which both Park and BTS have been called out for.
One user tweeted, "RM did it once got called out and never did it again but here u r trying to compare Jay park (who continues to appropriate and doesn't give a sh*t about being called out) to RM who did it once and never did it again ur selective outrage is showing."
However, many pointed out the selective outrage went both ways, tweeting "Half these people getting pissed off at Jay Park for cultural appropriation are ARMYs. BTS did a whole damn tv show appropriating black culture but that gets swept under the rug. Just because some black people are 'teaching' them or are on with it doesn't mean it's right."
Another user tweeted, "My boyfriend ain’t gonna see this cause he don’t follow me here but bro i explained to him why jay park bothers me and you know what this boy said 'he revolutionized hip hop for korea. korea would have shitty hip hop without him'," to which another replied "there are plenty of other artists that revolutionize korean hip hop that aren’t problematic."
This also highlights another problematic aspect of this conversation: hip-hop artists like Yoon Mi-rae — a Korean-American biracial woman — who are credited with bringing Western hip hop over to South Korea have had to deal with significant backlash including misogyny and racism, things Park has not been on the receiving end of despite profiting off the platform these earlier artists helped build. Claiming he revolutionized Korean hip hop is disingenuous, at best.
One user tweeted, "This man jay park is doing too much. Like you capitalize off of black culture, you defended avatar drakos dreads, said that non koreans listening to kpop is like cultural appropriation, he wore dreads himself, the list goes on," and even included some receipts for good measure.
That Park is back at it again during Black History Month was also not missed out on. This user tweeted, "jay park acting up again during n*gga month,,,let us have our moment."
But it isn't just black and brown Twitter calling Park out — Asians have also called out his racism and appropriation. One user tweeted, "jay park is a clown. asians like me hate asians like him," later adding, "of course!! jay park thinks he can cosign for black ppl on their hair when it never ever will affect him. if i have to say, it's anti-black of him to defend nonblack ppl for wearing dreads."
This isn't Park's first, or even the tenth time being called out for racism and cultural appropriation. As this user reminds us, "Jay Park really said 'What I have common with Martin Luther is that I'm a king too' and still no one has sanctioned for his arrest."
Park initially debuted as a member of JYP's 2PM, but was later forced to exit the group when old comments from his MySpace resurfaced in which he was seen saying derogatory things about Korea.