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Black BTS fans slam 'Street Girls Fighter' Nain for cultural appropriation, despite Jungkook praise

The dancer limited her Instagram comments following the backlash which has made Black fans angrier

Following the success of Mnet’s first all-female dance crew survival show ‘Street Woman Fighter’, they immediately launched the sequel ‘Street Dance Girls Fighter’ for teenage girls’ dance crews. And out of the several participants, one person is standing out thanks to the shoutout she got from BTS’ Jungkook. Leader Jo Nain of the winning crew TURNS was first noticed by the K-pop star when he recommended the punny name ‘Have a Good Nain’ for her YouTube channel. She had also shared that he was her dance inspiration.

Since then, Jungkook has often acknowledged Nain on social media to the extent that he even covered her choreography for ‘Bare Wit Me’. And with her latest choreography being for BTS’ ‘Home’, ARMY are hoping Jungkook covers it too. But with fame comes more inquisitive fans who have unearthed instances of Nain doing cultural appropriation. And the 'Street Dance Girls Fighter' winner's response to it has gotten backlash from Black BTS fans.

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Nain sports box braids for photoshoot

Thanks to Jungkook’s cover of her choreography, Nain rapidly gained more than 250k followers in a day. She is now at 413k Instagram followers. But it has led to fans noticing that in mid-January, she did a photoshoot with Vogue Korea where she was sporting box braids. As Black BTS fans called her out, Nain limited her comments which only allow those who follow her to comment on her posts.

Many Black ARMY noticed that they were also the only ones calling her out while others were praising her for her “hip hop style.” Cornrows, box braids and other protective hairstyles for natural African hair are still looked down upon and have negative stereotypes. And so, fans are angry that Nain is being praised and being credited for the same look.

'This is just wrong'

Many K-pop dancers in the past have also done cultural appropriation as many noticed LA CHICA’s Gabee wearing cornrows at MAMA 2021 to ‘fit the genre of their dance’. Upset fans made tweets like, “NOT NAIN LIMITING THE COMMENTS OH NO.” Another Black ARMY posted, “Non black armys live in a completely different universe, we call nain out for cultural appropriation and limiting the comments yet they still praise her.”

Another added, “I see ppl hyping Nain a lot bcz she’s a talented army that got the acknowledgment from our beloved Jungkook but what I don’t see is people calling her out for her CA, literally nobody but us black armys are speaking out abt it, it goes to show that no one rly cares.” One ARMY said, “I don’t know why some of y’all are still supporting and hyping up nain I really don’t.” Another angry fan commented, “Who tf is nain to u guys that some of u are going out of your way to defend her cultural appropriation????”

One tried to understand why people were defending her, “You think nain gon pick you to be ha back up dancer or sumn??” Another pointed out, “This is just wrong on so many levels. Nain did not have to go off and get box braids to appear more ‘hip hop’. Korean dancers and artists need to do better, I’m tired.” One ARMY added, “I dont want to sound bitter/jealous, but why is it that I have seen Black ARMY being very vocal about how inappropriate this is from Nain, but nobody else? Is this NOT cultural appropriation & why is the black community, especially black ARMY constantly ignored?”