BTS Cartoon Controversy: US Company Apologises And Removes ‘Insulting’ Caricature

BTS fans were already upset over the popular band not winning the Grammy recently and now they are furious over a cartoon for allegedly 'insulting' BTS.

Edited By: Chirag Sehgal

Published: March 18, 2021, 11:34 AM IST

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https://www.india.com/entertainment/bts-cartoon-controversy-us-company-apologises-and-removes-insulting-caricature-4499904/ Copy

BTS

The popularity of K-pop band BTS is unmatchable. Ever since the ‘Dynamite’ debut in August last year, the band has won a million hearts and has undoubtedly become millennials’ favourite. However, BTS fans were already upset over the popular band not winning the Grammy recently and now they are furious over a cartoon for allegedly ‘insulting’ BTS.

This cartoon was posted by U.S based company Topps under its series called ‘Garbage Pail Kids’ which depicts different characters’ suffering. The 2021 edition of ‘Garbage Pail Kids’ was titled as ‘Shammy Award Collection’ and was based on the recent Grammy awards which were held on March 15. This cartoon, among others, showed a caricature of BTS members being beaten physically by the Grammys award. And this created a great furore among BTS fans. Social media is flooded with criticism against Topps. While some people have slammed the cartoon as insensitive, others have urged BTS to take legal action against the company.

#RacismIsNotComedy@Topps apologize!! And remove that cover! In this kind of situation when we asians are getting killed you are literally doing something so stupid and so disgusting thing!Regret it now!.its not only about BTS but the whole asian community!delete it rn! Speed up! pic.twitter.com/WVnpUgIgZy

— bts.army.77777777 (@bangtan75495781) March 17, 2021

Remember.#StopAsianHate#RacismIsNotComedy pic.twitter.com/8uJR3f56Bj

— nanoy✈️ (@jungkookie_jj97) March 17, 2021

Following the controversy, Topps issued a public apology mentioning, ”We hear and understand our consumers who are upset about the portrayal of BTS  in our GPK Shammy Awards product and we apologise for indulging it. We have removed the BTS sticker card from the set, we have not printed any of the sticker card and it will not be available”.

pic.twitter.com/0l9QJkQauf

— Topps (@Topps) March 17, 2021

Meanwhile, BTS has now officially claimed the Guinness World Records title for Dynamite. It has earned the title of ‘Most simultaneous viewers for a music video on YouTube Premieres’.