SEOUL – K-pop stars who attended the recent 2024 Met Gala have drawn criticism for their silence on the Gaza conflict.
Jennie from girl group Blackpink and boy band Stray Kids face mounting pressure from fans urging them to address the ongoing war.
The names of celebrities who were at the glitzy New York fashion event were shared on social media platforms, alongside calls to boycott them. Netizens highlighted the abundance seen on the red carpet and compared it with the devastation in Gaza.
American pop stars such as Taylor Swift, Zendaya, Selena Gomez and Beyonce have been blacklisted by online users under a campaign dubbed the “digitine”, an abbreviation of “digital guillotine”, movement. The term has been used by many on social media as a call to unfollow or block celebrities who have not expressed their stance on the Israel-Hamas war.
The campaign went viral in the wake of the 2024 Met Gala. American influencer Haley Kalil posted a TikTok video in which she lip-synced the line, “Let them eat cake”, from American film-maker Sofia Coppola’s 2006 film Marie Antoinette.
The infamous line was supposedly spoken by the 18th-century French queen to starving peasants. Marie Antoinette was executed by guillotine in 1793.
Israel revealed its military strike plan on the southern Gaza city of Rafah on May 6, the night of the Met gala.
Comments such as “The civilians in Rafah would appreciate your efforts”, “Free Palestine” and “You are blocked for Gaza” were left on the Instagram accounts of Jennie and Stray Kids members.
Jennie has kept mum on the issue, while JYP Entertainment, the music label behind Stray Kids, has also declined to comment. THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
