Effects on Fans

Fullenkamp believes that when people mention K-pop, one of the first things people associate it with are the fans. K-pop fans mostly have a bad rap, due to being viewed as cringe or toxic.

“I feel a little bit upset about [the way K-pop fans are portrayed] because K-pop fans are given a lot more of a bad rap than they really should be,” said Fullenkamp. “I don’t know if you look at Twitter, but there’s just a really cool culture around K-pop. However, that can be misinterpreted by a lot of American people as either fetishizing or weird, when in reality, it’s just people liking these groups because of how cool they are as artists, how much competence they have, and how they’re diverse. And I think that it’s very cool. And I feel upset that people kind of tend to be really negative about these K-pop fans because they’re fine. They’re just enjoying something. I should not be judged for that.”

“I know a lot of people that have a problem with us or just the music. Which I feel like they only see the one part [of K-Pop] where K-pop fans take things way too seriously. So I feel like they only see that and then they just go against it when the majority of us are just having fun.” Araquistain said.

Kang feels that people often disguise their hatred of K-pop as hatred of the toxic and/or cringy fans, but bigotry and racism is often the real root of bitter feelings towards K-pop and fans.

“[People who hate on K-pop] are bigots and they’re biased because they don’t know what joy is. But I also think it stems a bit from racism because I’m very into video games and a few months ago there was a tournament and a lot of American fans were saying to the Korean team and Korean fans how we’re all K-pop fans and how we’re all toxic,” Kang said. “But, toxicity is everywhere from video games to music to athletes, and there’s nothing to stop it.”

This bad reputation can lead to some fans being slightly embarrassed or ashamed of their music taste.

“A lot of people think K-pop is embarrassing, so I generally don’t talk about liking it very much unless it’s with other fans,” Foreman said.

On the other hand, Araquistain believes that they have nothing to be ashamed about as a fan of K-pop.

“I am not embarrassed to be a K-pop fan. I actually wanted to show that I was a K-pop fan so maybe I could find connections when I first came here. I’m definitely not ashamed,” Araquistain said. “I don’t think it’s something I should be ashamed about. I just like the music and culture and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.”