Are you yet another netizen who happened to stumble upon the recent quote “RM Apologise to Muslims” trending on X later than the rest of the world? Hopefully, this explanation will help settle down your confusions surrounding the BTS Leader aka Kim Namjoon.
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In one of his recent Instagram stories (August 16, 2023), BTS RM shared Frank Ocean’s Song Bad Religion on his social media. This isn’t a new habit of the South Korean rapper, rather he’s been sharing his music recommendations with his fans for a long time now. Old BTS ARMYs would even recall the days when he didn’t have a personal public Instagram profile, so he would often resort to posting these suggestions via the group’s official Twitter page. So now, why is it that this particular song recommendation has sparked a full blown out controversy and put the singer’s name under fire?
Many fans and non-fans alike took to X (formerly Twitter) to voice out their opposition against Namjoon’s choice of music. Quite a few messages co-related his position as a UNICEF ambassador, and how such a thing wasn’t expected from him since he ‘is supposed to fight racism not to support and what is happening now is he insulting Islam openly”, as mentioned in one of the tweets online.
The whole debacle took an even more troublesome twist when fans started tearing apart, even burnt, all of their collection of Namjoon’s official album photo cards, as a means to express their strong change in opinion about him. X users even pointed out that he has a large Muslim fan-following and he’s deeply hurt their sentiments with this move.
In order to understand further, we will have to dig up info on the song’s history first. Frank Ocean is an American R&B rapper, singer-songwriter, who put out his debut studio album Channel Orange in the year 2012. Bad Religion was a song on the same record, and on the first listen of the track, listeners regarded it as a questionable song owing to its “Islamophobic” lyrics and references. Some netizens further dug in to catch the song’s meaning, and came through with the explanation that its lyrics actually portray an imagery of unrequited love while grappling with religious struggles.
One interpretation of the song could signify that Ocean was actually expressing the feelings of love shared in a homosexual relationship, and when the so mentioned taxi driver in the song called out “Allahu Akbar”, the singer perceived it to be a curse in a foreign language since he wasn’t familiar with the term. Owing to the hip-hop roots of the song, a rather “masculine” and robust musical genre that hasn’t always openly accepted queer identities, Frank’s track hopes to address the prevalent toxic hip-hop culture that doesn’t always welcome a direct expression of same-sex love.
The ongoing debate has further indicated how subjective interpretations of the song have played into this discourse as well. The other side supporting Namjoon on this issue have come through with their explanations. One of these brought about the tweet saying “Ocean’s negative response to ‘Allahu Akbar’ is apparently what then compels the driver to recommend that he pray. At first, Frank seems to perceive no harm in the idea but then concludes that ‘if it brings me to my knees, it’s a bad religion’.”
BTS’ RM is yet to comment on the situation. Till then, you can scroll down and go through netizens’ responses in this Namjoon-Frank Ocean controversy.
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Reactions to Kim Namjoon Sharing Frank Ocean’s Song on His Story
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What are your thoughts on this Namjoon Islam controversy? Let us know in the comments section below.
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