Argentine Vice Presidential Candidate from the Far Right
Controversy over mocking BTS tweet
“Sounds like a disease.”
The running mate of Javier Milei, a far-right candidate running for the Argentine presidential election, has been embroiled in controversy for making derogatory remarks about the group BTS in the past.
According to the BTS Fan Club in Argentina on the 26th (local time), Victoria Villarruel, a vice presidential candidate for the Frente de Todos party, who is facing a run-off vote on the 19th of next month, posted a tweet seemingly mocking BTS in 2020.
In response to a tweet from a user mentioning BTS, she wrote, “BTS sounds like a disease.” It also emerged that Villarruel had tweeted, “I don’t like Koreans with pink hair,” which local BTS fans speculate is a reference to BTS leader RM.
Some BTS fans protested at the time. However, the reason why this three-year-old tweet has surfaced again is because Villarruel, along with Milei, came in second in the presidential primary on the 22nd, qualifying for the run-off.
In response, Villarruel showed a dismissive reaction, saying, “I’m sorry that the alarm for a funny tweet chat from a thousand years ago is pouring out like this,” BTS fans strongly oppose it.
The fan club ‘ARMY’ stated through a statement, “The message BTS has always conveyed was respect for oneself and everyone else,” and criticized “Villarruel’s xenophobic remarks towards BTS, which reject or hate foreigners or other ethnic groups.”
It also said, “We do not expect an appropriate apology based on her recent remarks” and “If similar tweets are found, please do not provoke and report to ARMY (BTS fan club).”
Domestic netizens also showed reactions such as “She must not know how scary ARMY is,” “What kind of thoughts do you have to look at a group name and say it sounds like a disease?” and “That candidate’s name sounds like erectile dysfunction medication.”
By. Han Ji Young
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