K-Pop Stars Should Be Allowed to Love
The BTS love scandal comes as K-pop increases in popularity overseas.
Photo: Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Images
K-pop’s biggest-ever comeback tour, the return of the super boyband BTS, has been hijacked by a dating scandal. How the $9 billion industry handles the excesses of superfan culture will have an impact on the way the genre extends its footprint globally.
The controversy that has fired up a small but vocal fandom centers on whether two of the industry’s biggest stars, Jungkook of BTS and Winter of aespa, are in a relationship. Just to be clear: Nobody is accused of any actual wrongdoing. But to some fervent devotees, dating is a crime. Idols are meant to stay single, at least publicly, to preserve the image of accessibility and provide blank slates for followers to project their fantasies — no matter how outlandish.