2PM’s Jaebeom is in hot water
So my mailbox has been flooding with emails from readers telling me about this recent controversy with 2PM’s leader, Park Jaebeom. For those of you who haven’t heard already, netizens have dug up old messages Jay wrote to his friends back in 2005 where he calls Korea and Koreans gay. And now netizens ofcourse are freaking out on the once beloved leader saying he should go back to where he came from and now they know how Korean Americans really feel about Koreans. In response, Jaebeom posted this apology up on 2PM’s official daum site:
“Hi, everybody. This is Jaebum from 2PM. I would like to give you a sincere apology for what I wrote on myspace few years ago.
I’m very sorry.
I want to apologize and tell you how I felt at that time. I came to Korea around January, 2005 when I was still in high school. Because I was born and raised in U.S., I didn’t have enough understanding and knowledge about Korea. Thus, since it was first time for me to live in Korea, I had problems in communicating with people, and getting used to the food. I honestly did not know, and understand much about Korean culture.
My family was in U.S. and after I came to Korea, I felt like everybody around me was acting mean to me. I didn’t know when I will debut as a singer, and I was depressed. Because I was very stressed by all the hard circumstances around me, I missed my home and family very much; wanting to give up everything and go back to U.S where my family was.
I guess what I said about Korea on myspace was driven from my hatred toward my personal circumstances. I made a big mistake in expressing my feelings like that because I was too young. I was young, immature, thoughtless, and exhausted; I made a mistake of blaming everything to things around me. And, after a period of time, I forgot I wrote those words on myspace. Now, I’m very sorry and embarrassed for what I wrote. After that time, I have adapted to everything, and changed my thought completely, so I’m very thankful for all the things that made me to be a singer.
Those writings were from 4 years ago, and I’m completely changed now. Our family, Hottest, 2PM members, people who loves 2PM, and everybody, I’m sincerely sorry. Mistakes like this won’t ever happen again. Again, I truly apologize for what I’ve done.”
Am I the only person that thinks this whole situation is just absolutely ridiculous? I love how a person can’t have their own opinions, on their own damn myspace, with their own damn friends. It angers me how cruel people can be about some stupid comments made when he wasn’t even a known idol. Clearly, he was going through rough times in his life in a foreign country with no family by his side and to hate on him now, 4 years later, is just ludicrous. The point is that he’s not writing those comments now and doesn’t feel like that today but even if he did, the boy is human for Ghandi’s sake! I won’t go on with my raging rant but I’ll say this, Jaebeom if you read this, forget the haters and just do you.
The only concern everyone should be focusing on throughout this whole fiasco is who is this mysterious Jessica? Are we talking about your ideal girl, SNSD’s Jessica? SCANDALOUS!
credits: 2pm-online.com
support jay on twitter,facebook and what not!
we love jay!
You noe the funniest comment was the one about his rapping. Cuz thats exactly what i think about his rapping and how fangirls view him lol…He sounded like a huge douche back in 2005
Well at least he apologized, still ppl grilled SNSD for thier past, but now cuz it’s jaebum they give him a pass…
it just makes me laugh that people actually went and searched on myspace to find jay’s page!
there’s got to be TONS of jay parks’ on that site!
then to read his comments!!!!!
stalker much?
i like 2pm A LOT, but i don’t have time to be searching myspace for their accounts…..
ugh,korean netizens’ stalking is just beyond me~
i SERIOUSLY hv no idea what’s gonna happen to jay and it scares me.
the way i see it, koreans are MAD patriotic,n SOMETIMES, tend to look down on other countries. it’s even in their textbooks
(try reading this entry by a foreign english teacher in korea http://briandeutsch.blogspot.com/2007/12/negro-problem.html)
but to be fair to his (former?) korean fans, imagine if it ws YOUR idol who you worship and admire, clearly stating that he hates YOUR race and YOUR country..won’t u feel betrayed?like finding out the person you love has been talking smack bout u behind your back.maybe thats why his fans feel confused at the moment.i really hope they’ll find it in their heart to accept his apology.
and same goes to the public i.e non-fans. i get where they’re coming frm,but hey,the boy’s only human. thank god he’s male too,if not, i’m sure it would be much worse
the page does’nt exist anymore too bad I really wanted to read it. the negro problem?? please tell me more about this page.
here is the link
http://briandeutsch.blogspot.com/2007/12/negro-problem.html
Thanks for the link. I was wondering why I was getting hits related to 2PM.
There’s weird stuff in textbooks all over the world, and Korea is no exception. And you can find plenty more examples—even on my page—of netizens erupting over seemingly-trivial stuff. But then again, that’s what netizens do. Ever try reading youtube comments? I don’t recommend it.
the issue here is he is american-korean and as such thinks (or thought) he is (was) better than the average korean yet he came back to korea. just read his tone. arrogant prick.
Whats with all the fuss, he’s just talking like a normal American kid. I feel sorry for him that he had to apologize for an opinion. But his [forced] apology seems whole hearted, as most celebrities don’t write or say a whole lot (just a meer ’sorry’).
lol i love kpop….news
btw i can see where he’s comin from and i think his apology is sincere cuz now….he’s part of it. oh the irony!
I’m not surprised by this since he said he was new to the Korean culture when he did training. Even without reading this I predicted he had thoughts like these.
I however understand how the fans feel betrayed. He may not feel that way anymore, or at least not so strongly, but there’s no proof of that.
If he said Americans and America I’d always kind of wonder if he was just covering his ass with the apology or if he really meant it. Depending on the circumstances, such as this, I would still forgive him because he was homesick and pretty isolated. His frustration and resentment had no other way to vent. The fact that he even forgot he wrote it supports his saying that he doesn’t feel that way anymore.
korea’s just butthurt that they’re not as perfect as they make it, and nobody’s falling for it.
and if you read his other comments, you can see he hates everything, cause he’s a teenage boy, living in basically a foreign place
i don’t like him that much, but i can understand where he’s coming from. korean people emphasize manners, but when it comes to emotionally hurting people’s feelings, they don’t have a second thought.
the best thing in my life was moving to america. i was clinically depressed and suicidal at the age of 7.
wow at 7..glad ur alright now…
Korea needs a revolution
I can understand why the netizens were hurt and angry. And i think Koreans are the most nationalistic of all the asian countries. However Jaebeom has made a sincere apology (the usual korean will write only a line or two) and explanation and I hope netizens will forgive him for that.
I know I’ve written some regretful stuff on the net 5-6 years ago (when I was the same age as Jaebeom when he wrote his myspace comment) and I also hope the people who google search me will realize that I was young and angry and that I’ve mellowed out. From 18 to 22- a whole person and his/her outlook on life can change!
And as an Asian-American thrust into Asian culture…that must have been really frustrating. Some taboo things you try not to do in the US, you do in Korea..China, etc… (like adults telling their kids and other people’s kids that they’re fat and need to lose weight or get a nose job) and some non-taboo things you do in the US, it’s suddenly taboo in korea.
I hate Jessica from SNSD
why bring her up? cuz it says jessica on the comments? well fyi, he was talking about jessica alba lol. stupiiid dumb retarded bitch
He meant Jessica Alba….
people need to get over it. I call things gay all the time. lawl.
EXACTLY…jay even called his FRIEND gay: “wassup foo…haven talked to ur GAY face in a while…”
but see koreans don’t know that. they don’t know “gay” could mean something totally unrelated to sexual orientation.
then again koreans love them idols kissing each other don’t they? (look at suju)…so maybe he did mean “gay” that way? wonder what “gay” means to them…
i guess they never ever say something they don’t really mean like “i hate you” out of frustration (pssshh yeah…). they ain’t emo and hate on the world…but they do hate themselves enough to commit suicide…
‘course no generalizing…but just the ones who can’t get over it.
Wow if you’re working towards debuting in an asian country, do not diss said country by calling it and the people in it gay. Especially if said county is South Korea. lol :p
I don’t feel bad for him per se but I also don’t see what the big deal is about any of this either. That’s probably because I’m not Korean(or Asian for that matter) and people diss the USA/Americans all the time so we’re more accepting towards criticisms. I do understand that Asians are different and they take any negative thing said about their country to heart because they are so patriotic.
To bad his immaturity of four years ago caught up with him and he’s now pissed off the whole country. Haha. Like I said though if you’re gonna debut in a country that you’ve dissed at least get rid of the evidence. He could have deleated his old myspace, made a new one, and asked his friends to delete any old comments that he made. Then again, that would take time though and I don’t know who would want to do that…so maybe he shouldn’t have written that mess in the first place because he had to know deep down that if he succeded in Korea that this shit would come back to bite him in the ass. Right?…It always does.
So I can’t feel bad for him, it’s his fault for being an ass towards a country he’s trying to be a star in.
If what the person above(tokyo.vogue) said was true then it doesn’t look as though Koreans are any better than he is. Saying Korean-Americans have no national identity and that they belong in the ‘trash category’ is harsh and hurts just the same as Jaebeoum saying that Korea is gay. Some people struggle their whole life with identity crisis and become deeply depressed because they feel as if they do not belong.
So yeah both Korean netizens and Jaebeom are assholes!!…and sorry for the the long reply XD
If what the person above(tokyo.vogue) said was true then it doesn’t look as though Koreans are’NT any better than he is. Sorry
It’s creepy how they’d actually read to that far back. Four years of private messages. o.O
not to mention
this isnt on his page
they read his friend’s page
crazy stalkers much o__o
That was my first thought… hmmm.. whose Jessica? HMMM. But yeah, this is ridiculous! I didn’t even bother following up on this after reading it last night.
I don’t understand why everyone is making such a big deal out of this.
I live in Florida, and my nationality’s Korean.
Sure his comments were offensive, but this was back around four years ago.
I’m fifteen years old and an enormous fan of 2 PM.
I’ve made many mistakes in life too, but I learn from them.
Korea should forgive and forget. Everybody in life makes mistakes, especially when you’re young. All the people “hatin’” on Jaebom right now probably made huge mistakes as well or maybe even worse ones.
Korea, I thought you were better than that. I used to be proud to call myself a Korean, but if our great nation lets something that was an accident, outrage them. I don’t know what to think anymore. Park Jaebeom, I just want you to know, that I support you. I know you were probably joking around with friends, not thinking of consequences, or just tired of your life as a trainee in JYP. People shouldn’t be so judgemental without hearing his side of the story. 2 PM is not 2 PM without Jaebeom.
If Koreans are too damn proud to forgive Jay screw them!!!
He has my love and support from thousands of miles away.
Jaebeom FIGHTING!!!!!!!!!
You know at least he apologized! And plus it isn’t even bad AT ALL. Why can’t idols have their own voice? Shoot it was fckin 4 yrs ago. COME ON. The culture difference is so HUGE, no wonder he felt like that. I know this because my friend who was raised in the US for practically her whole life and is korean american just last yr had to move to korea with her family. The first few months she was their she complained to me all the time saying she hated koreans and that they were mean people, [because of some things she experienced over there] I mean can you blame her? She’s not used to the area, not used to the people yet. It’s a culture shock. And besides it was said on myspace it’s not like he is a true korean hater and yelling at koreans. -___- What is up with people? Can’t they just relax? JEEZ. If I were Jay I’d just be pissed. It’s not like he actually meant it. Maybe at that time he just felt miserable, exhausted, and stressed. Ughh just please leave him alone. This is ridiculous. Hwaiting Jay!
i wannabe his jessica lmao, GO JAY!!! <3
I don’t care what anyone say about Jay. I wouldn’t love 2pm if it wasn’t for Jaebeom. THEM HATERS THAT HATING ON JAEBEOM CAN KISS TOES! Hahaha. If I was to move to another country without knowing anyone, I would say I hate that country and want to move back too. He was strong enough to stay back and did what he did to be who he is today. IM PROUD OF HIM!!! I will always support him no matter what!! JAEBEOM ALWAYS<33333
http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/supportleaderjaypark/
Wow, I’m just finding out about that.
Honestly, the real problem with many human beings is that they can’t freaking TURN THE PAGE AND MOVE ON!! That happend FOUR YEARS AGO people, let it go, let….it…goooooo!
Who hasn’t made mistakes? Who never said something out of anger and frustration that they regretted saying later? Do people know what it is to be immersed in a world completely different from what you’re used to at only 17 or 18 years old? Keep in mind he didn’t even know how to speak Korean either.
“Blown out of proportion” is an understatement. If Jay didn’t like Korea, he would have never made half of the amount of efforts he made to be accepted and adapt to a culture he knew nothing off.
People need to get over themselves, it’s not that serious. Damn!
TOTALLY AGREED.
i really cannot stress enough how blown out of proportion this whole situation has turned into.
JAY IS HUMAN.
netizens must understand.
people make mistakes.
its just like any other person talking to their friend on myspace about what their going through.
sheesh, invasion of privacy much?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRNAGcP-gOA
lol that is so what it means. so this answers what i thought. did not know they been using the word gay like that for so long.
its ridiculous how they find his myspace and find the guy he commented to -_-
thats what im saying. -___-
These management companies really need to require sensitivity training for their stars. Especially considering the amount of foreigners working in the industry.
I hate the way he talks there.
The way he types is all lame… does he still talk bad ass like that? I
Well i dont know what he was thinking then, Dont diss the country ur wanting to get popular/ famous in LOLOL
if it was anybody else, theyd get hell, for example how come Jessica Ho got hell for stating her opinion but he gets away with it?
People these days r so biast and its lame. SNSD also get hell esp Tiffany for being american but nooo for jae beom its kk?
Double standards i say.
Are you kidding me ??
Jae Bum is in a risk of getting kick out of Korea and you think he doesn’t get “hell” ??
Stop talking like you know shit when you don’t :)
He can have his own opinion and say whatever it is he wants to say, but when the time comes to it, he has to be man enough to take responsibility for the things he says.
I’m not saying he should be hanged for this, he just said what he felt at the time, but the way his fans are blindly defending him is sad =/
you sound like you’re saying he’s not taking reponsibility for it. well hello, he apologised! and a pretty long one at that. and would just like to point out that fans defend him because there is something worth defending. all the people bashing him don’t know how hard he’s worked and how much effort he’s put into everything he’s done and now people are threatening to kick him out just like that, it’s sad.
At least his apology letter was written by himself, unlike with when SNSD had to ‘write an apology letter’ to Junjin…but we all know that someone wrote it for them
I like Jaeboem. He has the right to his own opinions, but we have to acknowledge that what he wrote was a very strong statement. Writing that Korea is “gay” and that he hates Koreans is very seriously offense, no matter how way you look at it. “hate” is not a word that should be thrown around easily…
However, his apology is so sincere and I really like how he explains how he was feeling at the time and how he was struggling. It’s obvious that he’s overcome personal struggles to become the idol we love, right? I hope netizens will come to see that and he will eventually be forgiven. Until then, he needs to take responsibility for his words, even if it was 4 years ago.
I wish the best for Jay! <3
I don’t particularly care how old he was when he wrote this or how the netizens found out about it. The point is, he was being culturally insensitive. Especially since he was dissing the country where we was working to debut on. I’m not saying he can’t voice his opinions but rather, reading it now, it just gives me the impression that he just used Korea to launch his career. Like if he could have had some small shot in the US, or some other randome country, then he would’ve chosen them instead. So, of course, it’s hurtful for his Korean fans.
Personally, I find it ironic that that “gayness” has helped make him famous but, whatever, at least he apologized.
Dude, those comments weren’t bad at all. If that’s all it takes to rile up netizens, then crap. It’s really not that big of a deal, but the fact that he manned up and explained his reasoning makes him cooler in my opinion. Everybody is guilty of making fun of or making some remarks towards their own race, religion, what have you at least once. I’m guilty of it too; it doesn’t mean that we hate that certain group. These things happen, and I’m damn sure this won’t be the last time an idol will slip up or some netizen will find some ancient blog entry from an idol and start more crap. People, you just need to let it go.
i know how koreans freak out over this
if u look at the comments made bout tis article, i can say that almost 97% above think that netizens are narrow-minded
netizens, pls show yr kind side and forgive jaebeom
what will the world think of korea for extragrattin this issue?
it was 4 yrs ago..jaebeom changed his mind 10000000000%…he loves korea now, okie?
i cant und why netizens bring back the past
sounds more like tryin to find more topics to chit chat bout to me
duh?? i mean jaebeom can sue the person who find and show the world these comments…these comments are suppose to be private!!
and statin out his POV at myspace wasnt wrong
he was jz an immature teen that was havin so much hardships at that moment…put yrself in da shoes…
jay, hwaitin
we got yr back
ignore those stupid things that ppl made bout u
as long as u know d truth and also Hottest, dats enuf
that’s just ridiculous! 4 years ago??? u must be kiddin’ ! even ur appearance will change in 4 years , let alone ur thoughts! but imo , he did the best thing. n e way ( as he says) , if I were in his shoes , I’d definitely sue that son of a b…tch for digging up the past!
I feel a bit bad for Jaebeom. Seems I like him now.
The first time I read those comments they looked like they were edited by anti-Jay fans. Think about it :
- the comments suddenly appeared on their one year anniversary.
- Wild Bunny ep. 7 that 2OD subbed showed that Jay had a MySpace.
Ironic? The internet can be possible for a lot of things. &+ I feel like every time I read his comments
a word is added or they sound even worse then before. What I can’t believe is that they actually went on stalker status
& digged up stuff from 4 yrs ago ( &nd on his friend’s profile ! Lol that’s creepy part xD )
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_53Lh5pKBLB8/SqLwGEFGiGI/AAAAAAAABNA/8QdP8Tanfpo/s1600-h/jay2.jpg
I can be wrong but if Jay said he didnt write those it’ll be his word against probably the whole Korean population.
I think the netizens overreacted. They didn’t stop to think if it was true or not. Their comments about this were ridiculous !
“he’s changed from the person he was 4 years ago? no one changes in that timespan. he’s full of sh*t.”
(Watch after 4 yrs. he’s gonna be acting more mature.)
“JYP should kick out jae beom…and nickkhun, taec for that matter. and 2PM should continue on with the remaining members”
(This just shows how racists this person is.)
“producers should immediately stop promoting foreigner entertainers. they only succeeded here because they don’t have a chance in hell in america”
(Ha ! there’s no way you’ll survive in America either.)
“(jae) you’re korean-american…which means you are neither korean nor american. you belong in the “garbage” category”
(That was so low. What category are you in sir? You’ll get killed if you said that to Asains here, most of them are in gangs.)
& there you have it. You can tell those were said by Jaebum haters. I’m a big fan of 2PM so I had to make this long. LOL .
Man I thought he like did a sex tape or racy photos or something actually BAD like a DUI or something. He made a statement as an American in KOREA and gave his opinion about something privately on HIS myspace.Man if it was 4 years ago who the hell took the time to find it and dig it up. Man what is up with that, Korea wants people to come visit tour and so forth and so on, yet in Korea they treat foreigners like crap, then they want to be pure but let shows like G Dragon the IVY performance as well as other sexually explicit things be aired on NATIONAL television.Then the racist comments made on television, but oh no don’t let them get bashed because they want sympathy in a hateful world. You know what folks all countries have shown some type of hypocriticalness but Korea is starting to be a little bipolar schitzofrenic wouldn’t you think. Before you bash me think about it. You want foreigners to come see the beauty of your country but when they get there you treat them with disdane , Your kpop idols that want to break into the american market makes racist comments about americans, you want the world to think you are a pure nation , but have folks play goosing on national tv. So forth and so on. Don’t get me wrong I love my kimchi bulgogi and hanbok but this is getting ridiculous
I don’t understand why the netizens are being so damn stubborn with this issue, I’m a Jay fan and it’s not fair at all that they’re being so hard on him. To be honest I was shocked as hell when I read that they were putting 2PM activities on hold just because of this. What about the times where Tiffany ‘insulted’ her sunbaes? It showed the same kind of disrespect, in not so many words, but fans knew to blame her and not the group.
Hottest fans are just being hypocritical by picking on Jay and on the members who support him.
I really hate how this is going out of proportion! I feel terrible for Jay and for his 2PM members. I don’t even know what to do. GO CHECK OUT ONEDAY forums to find out how you can help support 2PM and Jay out!!
Ellie, I’m not sure if you guys knew about this or even posted it up but it would be great to tell Seoulbeats readers know that they can give a video shoutout to Jay/2PM
http://www.2oneday.com/forum/
[...] Fellow Korean-American Jay Park has been in a sticky situation for the past few days in relation to his comments about his experiences in Korea. As a result the artist known as Jaebum of the boyband group 2PM has officially resigned from the group and JYP Entertainment. To read the whole saga, you can view it here. [...]
recommendation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTzKsGl0d6U
i am hottest.
we wish jaebum is returned to South Korea.
If jaebum was no 2PM, there would be nonexistent 2PM.
hottest are mounting a campaign for jaebum.
just for 5 days, 16 millons of korean signed for jaebum that will be come back to korea.
plz Let’s give hottest and jaebum cheer!!!
Jay..It’s gonna be hard time but cheer up.
↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓
agora campaign in korea
http://agora.media.daum.net/petition/view.html?id=79602
2PM fan cafe site.
http://cafe.daum.net/2PM
2PM & 2AM fan page
http://www.oneday-room.com/
recommendation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTzKsGl0d6U
Man the grammar is enough to perm my hair
Seriously what is this bullshit. Why did he have to leave. sins When can’t someone give his own opinion. and it was in 2005 that was 5 years ago. everyone changes after 5 years. who cares. he makes great music and thats what its about.
i will support 2pm and it is not the same without jay