Oh Great PR Move

Breaking news?

Following up on my op ed, Monday night had all Hottests (2PM fans) wailing and screaming. What a great night.

Why?

Jay has decided to call it quits, with JYPE confirming so.

Read all about it here: http://www.allkpop.com/index.php/full_story/2pms_jaebeom_calls_it_quits/

Netizens have just fueled the flame for the reason for Jay's fans and all Korean American alike to fight back.

I'm no fan of 2PM but this reminds me of the US beef import incident. My gosh, now why is this happening? Seriously? For a teen idol who slipped up and messed up a few years ago? And had apologized about it? Is he the president of South Korea? Does he make choices that would affect the nation's social, economical and political landscape? Hmm. Good question to ask.

When Brian of FTTS (hazy here. read wiki for more info) made a slip in the remark about American and Korean sometime long time ago, though netizens were flipping, he was then forgiven. Sure, he didn't call Korea gay or wack or any other terms, but he apologized, explained his reason (due to his limitation in Korean that caused the remark) and was forgiven about it.

And Jay was much younger and more Americanised, meaning to say, he was brought up in a very different kind of culture and environment, if can be said, opposite environment compared to Korean culture. Brian, being older (I'm not bashing Brian here, how can I when I follow his tweets and is a part of his FB network), was exposed to a different environment. 10 years do make a difference in culture. 10 years ago, Malaysia was more conservative and censored every kiss scenes on TV. 10 years later, they are more lax, and pecks are allowed. Bad example, but you get the point.


One word: Overreaction.

Yes, again, I'll say: He was stupid. He was dumb. He was a fool to have not been more careful in his choices of words. He should have more wisdom and practiced more social tact.

Unfortunately, what is past is past. Can he undo it? No. Can he make amends? Yes. Can he be forgiven? Apparently...not.


And so Jay packs up his bag, leaving his One Day (2PM and 2AM members) friends behind (which I'm sure they are upset and crying like anything, these boys are close from what I've seen) and leaves for America today at 6.30 KST (a.k.a 5.30 PM Malaysian time).




I'm totally laughing at this ridiculousness that spurred even netizens nitpicking Jay's boss, mentioning about the difference between 'ramen' and 'ramyeon'. It's a difference in spelling, but to Koreans, it's a difference in culture. (Ramen is Japanese and the other is Korean)

I totally give up. It's nothing new. Netizens have blown things out of proportions anyhow anytime. But I do pity Korean Americans in the Kpop industry now. I'm sure most of them understood how Jay had felt though I'm sure that everyone of them agreed it was the dumbest thing to do. But now the thing is Jay's one mistake would proved to be a cold civil war arising.

Why do I say that? Because netizens, in their blinding rage, will dig. Best archaeologists in the world, I say. They will make sure that every non-native would be targeted at, watched, and one mistake, poom! "BACK TO _______ YOU GO!", "GO AND COMMIT SUICIDE!" (The latter is true as there was actually a petition to call Jay to add to the stats)

Hmm, never has the careless remark "You go die lah, you" implicates a more serious meaning than it ever is.

Yes, my heart goes out to all non-native Koreans in the industry. I can only sigh and hope for better things in the future. As for Jay, we shall see. Hopefully he will come out stronger and wiser. Or he can go to Japan, perhaps they will accept him...or not. Or Taiwan. We have a Nicky Lee doing somewhat well.


~~

The PR move from JYPE was to cancel all 2PM activities and let Jay lie low. Looks like laying low is not enough. At all.

[EDIT]
I apologised if I sounded like a hurt fan. Actually, I'm not even a fan of 2PM, much less Jay. So. Yeah.

After sitting down a little, I think that it's a responsible action Jay took by resigning. He did after all say wrong things about the country he came to love (hopefully) and practiced responsible leadership. Japanese are famous for doing this, and hopefully Jay will find comfort in God, his family and friends back in America. He's not perfect and hopefully he'll recover from all these. As I've said, he will learn to be wiser and maybe in a not so faraway future, he can come back and truly gain the respect.

Yes, he has totally earned my respect.