K-pop star Chaeyoung is under fire after wearing a T-shirt with a swastika symbol on it.
The 23-year-old member of the girl group Twice posted an apology on Instagram after sharing a photo of herself wearing a shirt that included the hate symbol appropriated by Adolf Hitler and the German Nazi Party.
“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,” explained Chaeyoung on Tuesday.
In the since-deleted photo, Chaeyoung posed in the shirt depicting Sid Vicious, of the punk rock band Sex Pistols, wearing what appears to be a Nazi swastika on his T-shirt.
The Anti-Defamation League considers the swastika “the most significant and notorious of hate symbols, anti-Semitism and white supremacy for most of the world outside of Asia” since 1945.
“I deeply apologize for not thoroughly reviewing it, causing concern,” Chaeyoung wrote of the photo. “I will pay absolute attention in the future to prevent any situation similar from happening again. Sincerely apologize again.”
Amid the star’s apology, some Twitter users called attention to the South Korean artist also recently wearing a T-shirt with the QAnon slogan “Where we go one, we go all.”
The slogan is a reference to the extreme far-right political movement that entered the political sphere in 2017.
QAnon theorists are known for circulating extreme conspiracy theories to vindicate former President Donald Trump.
The theories are “an amalgam of novel and well-established conspiracy theories, with marked undertones of antisemitism, anti-LGBTQ+ hate, and anti-immigrant bias,” according to the ADL.
One Twitter user wrote, “Anti-semetism in kpop is way too overlooked. Chaeyoung wearing a q-anon AND a nazi shirt two days in a row, BOTH BEING ANTI SEMETIC, STOP hiding this and mind you these her OWN clothes.”
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