BTS‘s past plagiarism issues, which the group has admitted to, have resurfaced.
On May 28, a post titled “HYBE’s Crimes Involving BTS’s Plagiarism” went viral. In the post, the author alleges that HYBE had manipulated BTS’s plagiarism allegations to make the group look like they were victims.
The author starts off the post by uploading rap lyrics that RM, J-Hope, and Suga had plagiarized. The post goes on to detail plagiarized lyrics from artists such as Drake, E-Sens, DOK2, YOU, SoNyeoRadio, Kim Gaeri, Gaeko, Yankee, Swings and BIGBANG‘s TOP.
The author of the post then writes that as the plagiarism allegations started to grow BTS took to their Twitter to address the accusations. In a tweet from 2014, someone who appears to be a BTS members, denies the allegations.
“I have never played around with music and I don’t plan on playing around in the future. Just trust me and follow, we’ll let you listen to all the good music that your heart desires.”
— @BTS_twt
The post’s author then writes that once the plagiarism allegations continued to grow, BTS finally admitted to stealing lyrics in 2015.
“Rap Monster, Acknowledges Plagiarizing Lyrics… “Everything Is My Fault” Honest Apology.”
— Kookmin Ilbo article
Their lengthy apology was uploaded to Twitter in the following tweet:
안녕하세요. 방탄소년단 랩몬스터입니다. 저는 MAMA를 위해 홍콩에 와 있습니다. 오늘 방탄소년단에게는 무척 중요한 날이지만 이 일 또한 정말 중요하고 반드시 제가 직접 말씀드릴 일이라 생각돼 글을… https://t.co/R9S3GiDfn8
— 방탄소년단 (@BTS_twt) December 2, 2015
“Hello. This is Rap Monster. I am currently in Hong Kong for ‘MAMA.’ Today is a very important day for BTS but this is also very important issue that I should address myself so I am leaving this post.
Early today, an acquaintance informed me that the origin of my lyrics have become a controversy on SNS.
First, I would like to sincerely apologize. Even though I am just at the start of my career, as an artist I often feel the pain of creating something. When I feel unable to write music out of my own inspiration, I get my inspiration from talking to friends, reading books I like, watching movies, interviews and letters from fans. Whenever a line leaves an impression on me, I write the line down in my memo.
Most become forgotten over time, but after being pointed out, I realize I subconsciously made a mistake. I focused on simply writing the song without paying attention to finding out the true sources for my lines. Everything is my fault and I realize that the original creator of the quotes must feel very offended. I will personally contact and try to take responsibility. I would also like to apologize to everyone who pointed out my mistake and who were hurt by my actions. I am sorry and thankful to all the fans who love me even though I am a man of many faults. As I know the pain of creation, I will from now on think of the responsibilities of being an artist before anything.
I apologize once again to everyone who I have inconvenienced.”
— BTS’s RM (previously known as Rap Monster)
Despite apologizing, the post’s author reveals that in a 2018 concert VCR, BTS was made to look like they were victims of false allegations, which riled up fans.
The netizen writes that HYBE continued to manipulate BTS’s fans to make it seem like the group was constantly facing injustice.
“It showed the acronyms for Plagiarism Boys and Sajaegi. At the time, this community was lit up with people saying that, although the Sajaegi (chart manipulation) allegations were wrong, BTS had admitted to the plagiarism accusations.
Now that I think about it, there is no way that Big Hit and HYBE didn’t know the verdict for the Sajaegi accusations and that the leader of their only group had already apologized (for plagiarism). But they still made something like this to incite grief and anger in fans during the concert. After this, inciting anger and grief in fans became HYBE’s signature.”
— Author of post
Netizens reacted to the post, with many expressing shock that BTS had plagiarized. Others stated how disappointed they were with BTS and HYBE.
- “Sigh, this really sucks.”
- “HYBE is freaking evil.”
- “I remember when I first start becoming a fan, everybody was saying that BTS was being framed because they were rising. I believed them because rising groups do face false allegations all the time which makes fans gather in solidarity.”
- “Are you sure it was HYBE that did this and not BTS? Maybe that doesn’t matter.”
- “Ugh, lol.”
- “I thought they had only plagiarized a tweet. I didn’t know how much they plagiarized off of other artists.”
- “Wow, this is the first time I am learning of this?? They literally stole the lyrics, wow.”
- “They seriously don’t have a conscience.”
- “This seriously sucks.”
- “Wow, they plagiarized? I didn’t know”
- “LOL.”
- “When I was a fan of theirs, I ignored the truth…”
- “Woah, this is serious. This is the first time I’m learning of this and I am so disappointed.”
What do you think?
