KUALA LUMPUR, June 4 — K-pop fans are in the news for disrupting the flow of racist posts on social media. 

The fans have recently taken to social media and posting K-pop videos and various blue animated characters under right-wing hashtags such as #bluelivesmatter, #alllivesmatter, #whitelivesmatter, and #MAGA.

Hollywood entertainment portal Variety reported that the move, for some time, resulted in the posts burying nearly all the actual racist messages using the hashtag #whitelivesmatter.

Variety also said that the fans had earlier disrupted an app by the Dallas police that was set up for people to report “illegal activities” from protests that have erupted in the US and other countries over the killing of African-American George Floyd. 

The disruption was reportedly so bad that the software had to be taken down.

 

 

The portal also reported that the recent move by K-pop fans was met with approval online. 

“#WhiteLivesMatter LMAO I WAS READY TO INSULT THE SH —  OUT OF EVERYONE,” one poster wrote. “THEN I SAW THAT K-POP STANS ARE DESTROYING THE [hashtag], DAMN NEVER THOUGHT I’D BE THAT HAPPY SEEING K-POP FANCAM”

The portal added that the fans were likely based in the US, as many of them used American vernacular language, and fans based in Korea tend to be less active on Twitter.

“The move quite possibly was inspired a social-media snafu that took place less than 24 hours earlier during “Blackout Tuesday” — in which the music industry basically stopped everyday operations to protest police violence against the black community, and strategise on ways to support it,” it said.

Meanwhile, New York Post reported that some believed that new Twitter handles were created judging from the speed K-pop stans descended on #WhiteLivesMatter.

Several cities in the US have been engulfed in protests following the death of Floyd, an unarmed African American man who died in Minnesota after a white police officer pinned him to the ground and knelt on the back of his neck for more than eight minutes.

A video of the May 25 incident spread like wildfire on social media, triggering anger and unrest as activists took to the streets to speak out against racism and police brutality.