As is often the case, the swastika is at the center of controversy.
To many cultures worldwide, the swastika is an ancient religious symbol. Its name, the “swastika,” comes from the Sanskrit word “svastika,” meaning “well-being.” Unfortunately, a slightly tilted version of the same symbol was famously used by the Nazi regime, tying the crooked crucifix to the millions killed in the Holocaust and countless hate crimes since the 1940s.
In Korea, the swastika is called “the Manja.” The symbol is scattered all over Buddhist temples in the country and means “all is well.” Taken with the absolute best intentions and benefits of the doubt in mind, South Korean pop star Chaeyoung, who performs in the K-pop group TWICE and whose full name is Son Chae-young, apologized on Instagram for wearing a T-shirt bearing a swastika. Maybe she just thought it was the nice one?
Hello, this is Chaeyoung from TWICE.
I sincerely apologize regarding the Instagram post. I didn’t correctly recognize the meaning of the tilted swastika in the t-shirt I wore.
I deeply apologize for not thoroughly reviewing it, causing concern. I will pay absolute attention in the future to prevent any situation similar from happening again. Sincerely apologize again.
Chaeyoung’s record label, JYP, also apologized for the shirt, going as far as to take responsibility for the situation:
Regarding Chaeyoung’s instagram post, we sincerely apologyize for not correctly recognizing the meaning of the tilted swastika in the shirt. We deeply apologize for not thoroughly reviewing it from the label side, being absolutely responsible for this situation. In this regard, we will pay abolsute attention in the future to prevent this situation from reoccuring from our side as well.
Earlier today, a viral tweet showed two pictures of the pop star. In one, Chaeyoung is wearing a shirt that bears the likeness of the late Sid Vicious, a member of the Sex Pistols, who, along with his band members, would frequently wear Nazi symbols. Depending on whom in the Pistols crew you asked, this was either to raise awareness about fascism or merely to provoke reactions. The other photo featured Chaeyong wearing a QAnon crop top bearing the words “We Go All.” In the spirit of those strained benefits of the doubt, most in the English-speaking world—including members of the conspiracy cult— don’t quite understand what Q is, either, but that’s by design.
“Anti-semetism [sic] in kpop is way too overlooked,” the tweet reads. “Chaeyoung wearing a q-anon AND a nazi shirt two days in a row, BOTH BEING ANTI SEMETIC, STOP hiding this.” The tweet continued to claim that these were Chaeyoung’s clothes, but they later amended to tweet that to say, “the q-anon shirt was the stylists [sic] choice.”
The post has a point. Even considering all the understanding and misunderstanding of the swastika, it remains a suspicious fashion choice. After all, the war against the Nazis, famously referred to as World War 2, is a well-known event worldwide. She didn’t even apologize for the QAnon shirt, which obviously doesn’t help her case. While the Sid Vicious shirt appeared in an Instagram post, Chaeyoung wore the QAnon shirt on the Koren music show Music Core. Posted to YouTube on March 18, the video has more than 641,000 views.
The differences in cultural understanding of the symbol have created problems in the past. So it’s perfectly reasonable for people to mistake the two symbols and air on the side of caution when running into one. For many, the swastika symbolizes their religion; for many others, it symbolizes destroying one. It’s a complicated situation that probably won’t get worked out soon, and certainly not by the end of this article.
Western celebrities pull moves like this, too, even without the benefit of semiotic debate. Two of the world’s most famous Harrys, Prince Harry and Harry Hamlin, were called out for wearing swastikas as Halloween costumes. The king of cozy-time baking shows, Paul Hollywood dressed in full-Nazi regalia for a Halloween party.
K-pop stars have done this in the past too. BuzzFeed notes that in 2021, “South Korean music label RBW issued an apology after a member of its girl group Purple Kiss wore an outfit with a Reichsadler patch, a Nazi symbol of an eagle and a swastika in a photo shoot.”
The discussion of pop stars using far-right symbols has taken a more urgent tone in the post-Ye breakdown universe. Last year, after proclaiming that he was going “death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE,” the antisemitic rapper formerly known as Kanye West posted a swastika and got booted off Twitter.
Now, there’s no mention of the QAnon shirt in the apology, and obviously, it’s pretty suspicious to see a pop star wearing shirts featuring fascist symbols in such a short amount of time. But, as we said, we’re going into this thing with the best intentions. We don’t know why, but we are.