Posted on 12/08/2012 9:46:31 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Edited on 12/08/2012 10:08:28 AM PST by Admin Moderator. [history]
C'mon. If you're going to own it, own it. The background:
[I]n 2004, a Korean missionary was captured in Iraq by Islamists who demanded that South Korea not send troops to aid America in the war in Iraq. Seoul refused to negotiate and the missionary was beheaded. The result: massive protests throughout Korea against both Muslim extremism and the U.S. military for indirectly bringing this fate upon a Korean missionary.
As part of the protests, PSY and several other popular Korean musicians put on a live performance of a Korean rock band’s song “Dear American.” When PSY’s turn came, he rapped:
Kill those [profane] Yankees who have been torturing Iraqi captives
Kill those [profane] Yankees who ordered them to torture
Kill their daughters, mothers, daughters-in-law and fathers
Kill them all slowly and painfully
According to MTV, the word he used at the time was “bitches,” not “Yankees,” but the intent was clear enough. Today, having earned untold riches in part by penetrating the lucrative bitch/Yankee media market, he’s sorry. Kind of:
“As a proud South Korean who was educated in the United States and lived there for a very significant part of my life, I understand the sacrifices American servicemen and women have made to protect freedom and democracy in my country and around the world.”
“The song in question – from eight years ago – was part of a deeply emotional reaction to the war in Iraq and the killing of two Korean schoolgirls that was part of the overall antiwar sentiment shared by others around the world at that time. While I’m grateful for the freedom to express one’s self I’ve learned there are limits to what language is appropriate and I’m deeply sorry for how these lyrics could be interpreted. I will forever be sorry for any pain I have caused anyone by those words.”
“I have been honored to perform in front of American soldiers in recent months – including an appearance on the Jay Leno show specifically for them – and I hope they and all Americans can accept my apology. While it’s important we express our opinions, I deeply regret the inflammatory and inappropriate language I used to do so. In my music I try to give people a release, a reason to smile. I have learned that though music, our universal language we can all come together as a culture of humanity and I hope that you will accept my apology.”
He did indeed perform for the troops on Leno’s Thanksgiving show; skip to 3:25 of the first clip below and watch him do the horse dance with full military backing. That looks twice as surreal today as it did then and it looked darned surreal at the time, but his PR team will use it to full effect to buy him some forgiveness with the public. He’ll get leeway too from the fact that he is, after all, the goofy horse-dance guy. A musician known for more introspective work would be held to full account for his political opinions but this is a bit like finding out that LMFAO thinks 9/11 is an inside job. (They don’t. I’m speaking hypothetically.) Between that and the fact that he apologized, sort of, for how the song “could be interpreted,” Obama’s spokesman felt safe enough to say this afternoon that O still plans on attending the upcoming TNT benefit concert at which Psy is scheduled to perform. Fearless prediction: That’ll change if people are still talking about this on Monday, not so much in terms of POTUS’s attendance as Psy’s.
Two clips for you here, one the Leno bit and the other (from 2002) a little taste of what South Korean pop culture can look like when it’s going through one of its periodic bouts of anti-Americanism. Content warning.
What a tool. He’s only semi-famous because what he did was so utterly stupid.
From the quotes that I read he could easily be John Kerry’s press secretary.
How could someone NOT laugh at that homo singing those lyrics
I know Laz will appreciate them
He clearly overestimates his influence.
the eternal question... why are asian girls so hot?
RE: the eternal question... why are asian girls so hot?
Errr... because most of them live in HOT(ter) places??
Well, I’m glad he apologized. I found his video to be very humorous. He doesn’t take himself seriously. It is a fad, though, that will be forgotten in a year or two.
The one on his right, our left, is looking right at me.
Same thing for Moslems living in America. Their deadline for denouncing terrorism and Islamofascism was 9/10/2001. The only acceptable substitutes now are faithful service in the military fighting the Islamofascists, or providing correct, timely, useful intelligence about the Islamofascists.
RE: Well, I’m glad he apologized.
I wonder if any of our gangsta rappers here in the USA have ever apologized for their lyrics...
I wouldn’t get too worked up over this - PSY was just saying what most of the world was thinking back in 2004. Now the world loves us again, since Obama is half-black - even though he kills the same people George W. Bush did and is trashing the entire global economy for short-term political gain. :)
Because they don't feel they have to go through life "fat, drunk, and stupid" to achieve some faux equality as defined by ugly lesbian college professors? :)
Misinterpretation?
How stupid does he think Americans are?
Isn’t this POS a South Korean?
He isn’t old enough to have lived thru the KOREAN WAR. It is also obvious that he doesn’t realize that thousands of Americans are still patrolling the DMZ to protect his home in South Korea.
He needs to be deported back to S Korea and never be allowed to have another entry into America, IMO.
I attend a university with a very big percentage of asians. The asian girls, many of them, have a much classier, classical fashion sense than the other females; they don't try to look "sexy." White girls tend to go for the uggs-spandex pants-northface jacket look, ie preppy, while black girls just in general dress...Slutty.
This is not universal by any stretch, but there is a general trend to be sure. Asian girls are smarter too.
Modesty in clothing used to be something people valued ( both in the east and the west ).
Now the word “modesty” is an odd word. Try using it in front of the average teenager and see his/her reaction...
I spent 17 years with a asian women, she was drop dead awesum. Looks, personality, kind, fun, smart.
RE: He needs to be deported back to S Korea and never be allowed to have another entry into America, IMO.
Highly unlikely, our esteemed President is going to attend his latest performance.
RE: I spent 17 years with a asian women, she was drop dead awesum. Looks, personality, kind, fun, smart.
So if it was great, why the past tense and not the present tense?
I am becoming increasingly less informed on pop culture.
I do not know what gangnam style is, and I’m not even curious to find out.
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