If you are unfamiliar with KATSEYEis the world's first global girl group created by Geffen Records and K-pop idol machine HYBE through a reality competition. Debut: Dream Academy – a process documented in the Netflix series Popstar Academy. The Grammy-nominated group, made up of six members from around the world, have now revealed they have received “thousands” of death threats online since their debut last year, with one US singer saying she was falsely reported to ICE.
In a new interview with Mark Savage BBC NewsIn addition to racist comments, Connecticut native Lara Raj said she was falsely reported to ICE for “working and residing in the United States without legal authorization.”
“I try to tell myself it doesn't matter, but if 1,000 people are sending you death threats, it's annoying,” said the 20-year-old singer, whose parents are Tamil. “Even if it doesn’t happen, it’s hard.”
Raj added that she deleted the social network formerly known as Twitter for her own peace of mind: “I realized that I am not an audience for other people's opinions.”
“People see us as women who deserve rank,” she continued, addressing the misogynistic nature of the comments KATSEYE received. “They will judge us on how beautiful we are, our singing skills, our dancing skills, and then add it up and give us a percentage. It's so dark.”
Fellow contestant Manon Bannerman agreed: “I feel like it's very scary for me.”
“Our career was very short, but I feel like we have already said a lot to us, to our families,” remarked band member Sofia Laforteza. “We know we signed up to be so public. We know that's part of the glory. But that doesn’t change the fact that we are human.”
This all harkens back to a cultural conversation about toxic fan behavior and boundaries that emerged last year when Chappell Roan spoke out against how aggressive her own fans were towards her. “I don’t care about abuse, harassment, stalking, or anything else that usually happens to famous people,” she said on TikTok last summer.
Roan has received overwhelming support from fellow women in the industry, including Hayley Williams, Jewel And FIRST. Meanwhile, Jann Arden recently admitted that she too received death threats for speaking out against Alberta separatists. Sorry to be radical or whatever, but maybe we shouldn't just threaten people's lives online just because we can?
