In a conversation with actress Ashley Park, Jimmy Kimmel compared the BTS fever to the Covid-19 epidemic. The action brought him fierce opposition.
Recently, actress Ashley Park, star of the movie Emily in Paris, guested on Jimmy Kimmel Live broadcast on January 20. During the talk show, host Jimmy Kimmel compared the wave of BTS fans to the Covid-19 epidemic. The statement made him face criticism from the group's fan community (Army).
The incident began when Jimmy Kimmel recalled that actress Ashley Park had performed BTS's song Dynamite in season two Emily in Paris. He said, "I sang a BTS song in the movie, how was it after that? We invited BTS to the show and their fans were willing to camp outside the set. There are probably still people in the parking lot waiting for the next time BTS stops by. They're totally crazy about those guys."
When Ashley Park suggested calling BTS fans "Army," Kimmel continued, "Yeah. You have to be careful with the 'armies' because they can attack you." Host of Jimmy Kimmel Live! made a pun on the BTS fan name, “army”, which means army. Next, when Park said he was also an Army, the MC replied, "Oh, then I won't be beaten".
The Emily in Paris star shared that she didn't realize how much she loved BTS until she performed the song "Dynamite" in the movie. The actress was very nervous and worried before the day of filming this scene. Luckily everything went well. After the second season of Emily in Paris aired, BTS members V and RM retweeted the excerpt of Park performing Dynamite on their personal page. This makes her very proud. Kimmel commented, "I can tell by looking at you now".
After being mentioned by the idol on Instagram, Ashley felt that her mind was hazy, her body was tired and she couldn't talk normally. At first, she thought it was because she was too shocked to be noticed by BTS. But in fact, Park had the Omicron variant of Covid-19 and those were the symptoms when he got sick. Jimmy Kimmel replied, "I thought it was the BTS craze." Ashley Park agreed, and the host commented: “Both are very dangerous. I'm lucky that I've been through both and still live."
Jimmy Kimmel continues to juggle synonyms - “fever” means both a fever caused by illness but also describes extreme excitement. However, this joke was not responded to by the BTS fan community - the Army. Since the outbreak of Covid-19 around the world, the Asian community has been the victim of hate attacks. Therefore, many people commented that Kimmel's joke was racist.
Some people were outraged when Jimmy Kimmel publicly compared Ashley Park's BTS fandom with the Covid-19 pandemic. The host showed a lack of sophistication when just a few minutes ago the Korean-born actress expressed her ardent admiration for the group. Viewers have left many comments against Jimmy Kimmel's behavior in the comments section below the video chat between him and Ashley Park posted on YouTube.
