Rapper and podcaster Joe Budden has inflamed ARMY after a series of comments on this week’s episode of his podcast entitled “We Can’t Lose,” in which he recapped Sunday’s Grammy Awards and offered up his unfiltered feelings about K-pop superstars BTS.
Joe went on to say that the group was from China instead of South Korea and then compared the K-pop sensations to being an Asian knockoff version of NSYNC.
BTS fans have responded to Joe’s comments, and have taken to Twitter to criticize the rapper for what some have described as xenophobia and racist remarks toward the K-pop stars.
What exactly did Joe say to inflame the BTS Army?
On Wednesday’s episode of award-winning The Joe Budden Podcast, Joe and co-hosts Parks Vallely, Ice, and Ish discussed the Grammy Awards. The performance by BTS came up, and Joe had opinions.
“You can get mad at me, but I hate them BTS n****s,” Joe admitted. When co-hosts Ice and Ish asked him to elaborate, Budden added, “Do I need a reason?… I hate them n****s. I don’t have to divulge my reason to you, I just hate them n****s. I don’t wanna hear that s**t, I don’t wanna see them dance moves, I don’t wanna see you come down in the sky in a little umbrella. I don’t wanna see your four f***in’ [indecipherable] come from the audience and then link up like Voltron and do all of the 98 Degrees moves. I don’t wanna see none of this s**t.”
Tell us how you really feel, Joe!
Joe then doubled-down when he misidentified the chart-topping South Korean group as being from China. “I know they big, I know it’s China, I don’t wanna see it,” he said right before co-host Parks corrected him by informing Joe that they’re actually from South Korea. “I don’t want to see Korean-Sync,” Joe then corrected himself, laughing at his own joke.
As his co-hosts said it was “disgusting” to not like someone for no reason, Joe clapped back, saying, “Why do you all think that because a group is big, or an act is big that you can’t hate them?”
Twitter erupted with criticism for Budden
Fans known as the BTS Army quickly caught onto his comments and hammered Joe on social media, saying that the rapper is just jealous of the group’s success and praising his co-hosts for calling him out.
Fans mentioned the differences in net worth between the BTS and Joe Budden.
Did Joe ruin his career over his hot take?
On Friday, Joe somewhat apologized to the BTS Army, and thanked them for being respectful while schooling him. He said, “I apologize, I’ll be the first to admit to my ignorance. I didn’t know the K in front of K-pop was for Korean.”
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