One seemingly innocent Tiktok of Bella Poarch dancing has sparked intense criticism from viewers, The Daily Dot reports. Korean viewers decried Poarch’s ‘rising sun’ tattoo as insensitive, while Filipinx viewers retaliated after Korean netizens posted racist comments.
Poarch posted an apology video that’s garnered more than 28.5M views, according to The Daily Dot. The influencer, who currently has 17.5M TikTok followers and counting, also posted apology tweets on Monday.
“I apologize to Koreans because 6 months ago I got a tattoo of the red sun with 16 rays. At that time, I didn’t know the history. But when I found out, I immediately had it covered and scheduled for removal,” Poarch said. “I live in Hawaii and I see a lot of people using the red rising sun symbol in clothing, cars and jewelry. Please educate yourselves and learn more about it because it came from a terrible history.”
According to The Korea Times, the flag is ‘highly offensive’ to Koreans and is a reminder of Japan’s aggressions during its occupation of Korea from 1910-1945, as well as its crimes during World War II.
While many commenters accepted Poarch’s apology, some Korean commenters targeted the Filipinx population, using offensive phrases like ‘poor country’ and ‘uneducated short people,’ The Korea Times reports.
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According to GMA Entertainment, Filipinx Twitter reacted with fury and the hashtag #CancelKorea is currently trending.
GMA also reports some Filipinx Twitter users pointed out that Filipinx war veterans aided Koreans during the Korean War.
According to The Daily Dot, Poarch herself responded to the Twitter war on Tuesday.
“Y’all can attack me. I’m ok with that,” Poarch tweeted, The Daily Dot reports. “But when y’all attack Philippines and make fun of them, that’s when I lose my sh*t.”
But other Filipinx commenters responded with more hatred and racially-based comments. According to The Korean Times reports, some tweets mocked Koreans using terms such as ‘plastic surgery faces.’
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