James Corden upset the BTS Army and is trending on Twitter for all the wrong reasons
James Corden came after the wrong fanbase.
BTS
If the internet has taught us anything in the last five years it is this: You don't mess with BTS and you definitely don't mess with the BTS army.
The latest person to learn this universal truth: James Corden.
For context, BTS, the South Korean super group with one of the most hardcore fanbases in history, took centre stage at the UN recently as a special envoy for South Korean President Moon Jae-in. They made a speech highlighting issues of climate change and vaccine hesitancy. They also performed. Why BTS? Well the numbers speak for themselves: Six million people watched the YouTube video of the speech and song in just five hours.
And that's where James Corden comes in.
James Corden has long been a friend of BTS, inviting them on his show constantly to the point where BTS fans call him "Papa Mochi" because of his relationship with Jimin (who is nicknamed Mochi).
But now there's trouble in paradise. The problem? A series of jokes made by Corden about BTS' recent trip to the UN.
FOR THOSE WHO DONT KNOW WHATS UP W JAMES CORDEN pic.twitter.com/dwetonvOgm
— hobi ✌️ (@legendaryseok) September 22, 2021
On The Late Late Show, Corden very gently mocked the UN for inviting BTS to the UN headquarters in New York, but perhaps his biggest faux pax: Referring to the BTS fanbase as "15 year old girls." It was a brief series of very banal (and boring) jokes, but that was enough to raise the ire of BTS fans.
Next minute: James Corden is trending on Twitter for all the wrong reasons.
Waiting for James Corden to remove Papa Mochi from his bio pic.twitter.com/1mWve7Z1Yh
— MINIMONI FOREVER (@MiniJM_MoniRM) September 22, 2021
James corden really just came and called us all 15 year old girls unprovoked pic.twitter.com/hqhKuTDBEM
— ellie🌙⁷ (@jooniejadore) September 21, 2021
I'm so sick of this fake love
— Bella⁷✨🇪🇬 (@HabibaMAbdalla4) September 22, 2021
I'm so sorry but it's fake love
james corden isn't Papa Mochi anymore pic.twitter.com/cGpvBmtWl8
james corden is now in army's black book. he used armys and bts for clout idc
— min sarah (@tanseok) September 21, 2021
James Corden, as a teenage girl myself I just want to take a moment to say leave us alone. I’m not brainless for liking a boy band, and neither does me liking a boy band invalidate their achievements. Stop using my gender and age as a way of mocking other people and what they do.
— Kookiedough⁷ (@_kookie_dough__) September 21, 2021
You literally cannot underestimate the power of the BTS. When the BTS army mobilizes around a topic, they tend to have a huge impact. K-Pop fans managed to sabotage a Trump rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma back in July 2020 and they are unforgiving of any perceived slights toward BTS or the BTS fanbase.
In this case, the anger is more directed toward how Corden is referring to the fanbase. Teasing a group for having a fanbase of teenage girls seems pretty long in the tooth. Harry Styles put it best in 2017: "Who's to say that young girls who like pop music -- short for popular, right? -- have worse musical taste than a 30-year-old hipster guy," he said, in an interview with Rolling Stone. "That's not up to you to say. Music is something that's always changing. There's no goal posts. Young girls like the Beatles. You gonna tell me they're not serious?"
James Corden has been trending for all the wrong reasons in the past month. Just weeks ago he set the internet on fire for dressing up as a mouse and thrusting in the general direction of cars in traffic.
James Corden, Camila Cabello, Billy Porter and Idina Menzel stopped traffic in LA for a flash mob with a cover of Jennifer Lopez’s “Let’s Get Loud” to promote #CinderellaMovie pic.twitter.com/dxm8LIKVvi
— Film Updates (@FilmUpdates) August 28, 2021
Yep, that happened.
Representatives from the Late Late Show didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
