Korean netizens are outraged that foreign idol fans are “unwhitewashing” official pictures of idols by producing darker photos in an attempt to show their “real” skin tone.
The above is an edited version of BTS‘s Jungkook, and below is the originally released photo.
There are thousands of pictures being “rejected” and retouched by foreign fans because they believe the pictures are not representative of the idols’ natural skin tones.
Koreans are angry because, in some instances, the reproduced pictures are darker than they should be and indicate assumptions are being made by foreigners about what the “real” tone of these idols is.
The image below is an especially noticeable instance.
Korean netizens are accusing foreign fans of choosing the wrong pictures as representative of their “real” skin tone, including ones that clearly have a yellow-tinted light shining down from above the idols.
“Pictures that have a yellow light above [the idol] are being called ones with a natural skin tone.” — Korean OP
“They are calling the occasional gloomy picture their ‘real’ skin tone.” — OP
Some foreigners are also mocking Korean beauty standards.
Korean netizens think it’s discriminatory and racist to “unwhitewash” the idols based on what those foreigners believe is the “right” color, and foreign fans believe the idols are perfect just the way they are so shouldn’t be edited to begin with.
“Koreans are white. It’s prejudiced and racist to say Northwest Asians are yellow and dark-skinned. These people are ignorant.” — Korean netizen
“I think they’re really on the edge of racism. Asian in the eyes of these people = yellow or dirty. They’re biased every time and always make a mess of it.” — Korean netizen
“You can’t tell me that you like the BTS which looks like ghosts on some pictures more than the BTS with their natural skin color, I mean THEY’RE SO BEAUTIFUL AND THEIR SKIN COLOR MAKES THEM MORE BEAUTIFUL. After seeing these pictures I decided to save and post only not whitewashed pictures when it’s possible.” — Foreign netizen
“We do not tolerate racism, colorism, whitewashing, or other hateful behavior.” — Moderators of “Melaninup” Tumblr site (which produces edited photos)
But some foreign netizens are acknowledging problems with editing photos of the idols.
“I think some of the non-whitewashed photos are darker than their normal skin colors? Some people re-edit the whitewashed pictures, making them a lot more tan than they originally are.” — Foreign netizen
“Whitewashing is a serious case where films in Hollywood turns a colored race into a white race. It’s a heavy race problem. Changing the brightness and contrast on K-Pop pics is not whitewashing. Please choose another term for this problem, I beg every K-Pop fan in the world because it makes the real race problem seem unimportant.” — Foreign netizen
