BTS’s Jungkook issues apology after coming under fire for bizarrely wearing ‘Make Tokyo Great Again’ hat

BTS member Jungkook, who was recently discharged from the military, went to his first schedule afterward while rocking a ‘Make Tokyo Great Again’ hat and is unsurprisingly getting a bunch of backlash over it.

Obviously the phrasing originates from Donald Trump’s slogan, and it’s recently been co-opted by the Korean right-wing.

Predictably, it’s also migrated to Japan as well, perhaps most famously through Tokyo’s governor Koike Yuriko, who frequently nods to Trump by talking about putting Tokyo first (like America First) and uses the slogan Make Tokyo Great Again on the trail at times.

If all that wasn’t enough to make it a bad visual, well her use of the slogan in Japan is in service of a nationalistic and anti-Korean platform, and Koike herself has alleged ties to hate group Zaitokukai and refuses to acknowledge things like the Kanto Massacre.

The brand that makes the hat, called BASICKS, is currently hyping it up and saying Jungkook helped the sell the cap out.

In response to the backlash, Jungkook took to Weverse and posted an apology to fans for the hat.

I feel heavy to write this after meeting you after a long time. I sincerely apologize for the disappointment and inconvenience caused to many people by the phrase on the hat I wore during rehearsals today.
I take it seriously that I have been disappointed and hurt by my lack of wearing it without fully confirming the historical and political meaning of the phrase. I’m just sorry There is no excuse for any reason. I wasn’t good enough, I was careless. From now on, I will think more deeply and act one by one.
I will humbly accept both the criticism and criticism of my mistake. The hat was disposed of immediately. Once again, I’m sorry.

Again, like with aespa’s Karina or anybody else, would I be surprised if an idol was secretly conservative or trying to send a message or whatever else? No. Do I also think the idols of all people are the ones dumb enough to just wear some shit their stylist told them is cool? Yes. Either way, the issue is their actions leave people entitled to reading into it how they want, and some of them will assume the worst, so not having literally any awareness whatsoever will continue to cause idols problems. Luckily for the Big 4 Too Big To Fail types, it’s unlikely to ultimate have much impact.