The Twitch streamer Erind “Froste” Puka has gotten himself into some trouble. He has clashed with fans of the South Korean boy band “BTS” – and the fans want to take him down. They even wrote to his sponsor, asking what kind of racist scoundrel he is.
What kind of band is this? “BTS” is the biggest band in South Korea. They are so important and essential that a politician proposed, to create an exception for their military service, so they can stay together longer and make music.
In the West, the golden age of boy groups peaked in the 90s with the Backstreet Boys and Take That. There was another wave in recent years led by One Direction, but it’s actually a thing of the past.
In Korea, however, BTS is immensely popular.
The band is so big that they are now spilling over into the West and many in the target audience seem to be gamers.
BTS is primarily associated with Fortnite, they were already quite popular there in 2018 and appeared on Jimmy Fallon’s US show.
Fortnite is currently planning an event around them. In Asia, young pop stars are already tightly linked with icons and video games.
BTS fans react allergically to Covid-19 joke
This is what the streamer did: The Twitch streamer, Erind “Froste” Puka, made jokes at the expense of BTS. One particular comment ignited the wrath of the fans. Froste tweeted in March:
- If BTS had the coronavirus, their fans would find a cure within 24 hours.
Even now in September, he made his disdain for BTS clear and brought up the tweet from March again.
The statement seems to be a red flag for BTS fans.
The joke was supposed to play on how fanatical BTS supporters love their band, but the comment had a more serious background than the streamer realized.
Fans snitch on streamer to sponsor, call him xenophobic
This was the reaction: After a Twitter shitstorm seemed to have little effect, fans wanted to hit the streamer where it hurts: in the wallet. The plan is based on the current “cancel culture”: If enough people are outraged, individuals who behave provocatively get in trouble (via twitter).
They circulated a form with a complaint email to Froste’s sponsor, G Fuel. Fans were supposed to modify some words in the email so it wouldn’t get caught in the spam filter, then sign it and send it to G Fuel.
The main points:
- the streamer made racist and xenophobic comments and joked about the dangerous coronavirus
- he mocked the fans and “white-washed” the names of the band
- he additionally made derogatory comments about BTS and expressed himself in racially charged tweets about the band
But that wasn’t enough with the complaint: Apparently, fans also tried to hack his Twitter account. Additionally, the streamer apparently received some death threats: these were images from “SpongeBob SquarePants,” where characters were missing their heads.
The streamer takes it lightly. He says: hate cannot harm him. Because no one hates him more than he hates himself.
Apparently, there is a group you definitely shouldn’t mess with online: fans of South Korean boy bands.
If you are now curious about who BTS is and why they have such fanatic fans, we reported in 2018 about an appearance by the band on Jimmy Fallon. Even back then, BTS was strongly associated with Fortnite:
