BTS’ Suga recently went live on Weverse to speak with the fans about the upcoming tour and future music. After his last show in Chicago, the K-pop idol took the time to have his dinner after work live while speaking to his fans. It was a 20-minute live where the artist was seen eating, answering questions from the live and generally chilling. He also mentioned that he had completed the first half of his American tour and was telling people that while he did have fun performing for the audience, it was more dependent on the person watching it.
While most of the video was pretty generic and silly, the question that threw people and others off was the fact that one of the viewers asked the artist to speak in English. To this, he very calmly replied that he doesn’t want to and would rather continue to speak in Korean throughout the broadcast. Fans have been calling it the ‘Taehyung Effect’ and have been heralding the artist for standing up to a question like this with grace. They have called it so because of the way the BTS artist generally responds to all questions asked of him with a direct and straightforward demeanour.
BTS’ SUGA Responding to the ‘Speak English’ Comment
This is not the first time K-pop idols have been asked to speak English in their live videos. Even when they do, there are separate videos dedicated to how funny it is when they do speak in the language. While many get this question in their Weverse lives, Suga has been the only one who has actively responded to such a comment. It sparked an outrage on the internet, people were extremely annoyed by these fans who expect this idol to speak in a language that is not theirs on their own platforms.
Since this video and live, there have been many tweets that are heralding the artist for doing this. They have been telling the people asking this question to stop doing it because it is not only insulting to the artist who has to speak in his second language but also to the fan who exhibits such a limited understanding of the Korean Pop industry. Additionally, it also speaks to the kind of expectation fans harbour that is deep-rooted in valuing Western modernity over letting people communicate in their own language.
Suga still has another five dates left on this US leg and will be going to Oakland and Los Angeles after this. Also known as Agust D, this artist has been quite prolific in making music for the band BTS and has also recently started to make solo music following the military enlistment of a few members from the band. Most recently, he released his extended play or mini-album titled, D-DAY, which contains six songs, including the lead single, Haegeum.
Reactions From Fans Seeing The Response
D-DAY is currently streaming on Spotify. What did you think of this response by the K-Pop artist? Let us know in the comments below.