British influencer Oli London is taking heat after publicly identifying as Korean.
The announcement comes after the influencer is said to have paid more than $150,000 for cosmetic surgery to look like Park Ji-Min of wildly popular South Korean K-Pop band BTS.
What are the details?
London is facing heavy backlash for identifying as Korean, according to Insider.
“On June 18, London tweeted an image of a rainbow reimagining of the South Korean flag, saying that it was their ‘new official flag for being a non-binary person who identifies as Korean,'” Insider’s Palmer Haasch wrote. “They also said that they use ‘they and them’ pronouns as well as ‘kor/ean’ neopronouns.”
London tweeted, “This is my new official flag for being a non-binary person who identifies as Korean. Thank you for the overwhelming support it was so hard for me to come out as Them/they/kor/ean.”
London later added, “So sad how many comments are being homophobic and non-binary phobic. This is actually the official LGBTQI+ flag of South Korea … GOOGLE IT. Anyone that puts a negative comment is anti-LGBT and anti-equality. So sad in 2021 people will judge others on how they identify!”
On Friday, London continued to address the backlash, tweeting, “If you can be transsexual you can also be TRANSRACIAL. Why are there such double standards & hypocrisy with people criticizing me for being Korean. It’s the same as someone who was born in the wrong body and wants to become a man or a woman. I was actually born in the wrong body!”
London also shared the news in a widely viewed YouTube video, in which the influencer and performer blasted “woke people” for their criticisms.
“The only people that need to be canceled is the woke people,” London said. “Because they are so dangerous to freedom of speech in society.”
At the time of this reporting, the video — titled “I’m Non Binary Korean…” — has been viewed more than 34,000 times.
