FUSE TV - Why Are Some K-Pop Stars Deleting Their Posts About Orlando?

Following the harrowing hate crime this past weekend in Orlando, Fla. where 50 people were shot to death in a gay nightclub—making it the deadliest attack in American history since September 11, 2001—a handful of K-pop stars showed their support on social media. It isn't the first time the K-pop scene has shown support on social media, as many stars did when Paris was attacked by terrorists in November 2015. The only difference here is that some stars have begun deleting their well wishes and they all seem to have one correlation: gay iconography.

It's important to note that gay rights more or less do not exist in the still culturally conservative South Korea, with its LGBTQ citizens facing many legal challenges and discrimination in the country. With that, there are very, very few out celebrities, none officially out in the K-pop scene, with LGBTQ awareness coming to the mainstream only very recently thanks to events like the public coming out of Hong Seokcheon, who was forced out of the entertainment industry in 2000 and has only recently been embraced back. For a recent example, this weekend saw 50,000 people, a record number, march in Seoul's pride parade, though it was met with hundreds of protestors on the sidelines.

On Sunday, June 12, G-Dragon of K-pop phenoms BIGBANG initially shared a video post featuring a rainbow heart and the caption "#prayfororlando" that was viewed at least 40,000 times until it was deleted. See a screen shot below: