Today's Evil Beet Gossip

That PSY Guy Isn’t So Cool After All

A photo of PSY

Sorry, guys, if you’ve been way into that rapper or dancer or whatever, PSY, and his “Gangnam Style” song. Sorry if it’s become a staple in your life, like my BFF who thinks it’s cool to blast it on repeat while she’s cleaning her apartment, or like my boyfriend, who insists on doing the dance for me while I’m trying to work. I’m just sorry.

He did a concert back in 2004, we’re learning now, and here are some cool things he said:

“Kill those f-cking Yankees who have been torturing Iraqi captives/Kill those f-cking Yankees who ordered them to torture/Kill their daughters, mothers, daughter-in-law and fathers/Kill them all slowly and painfully.”

Yeah, so that’s not so neat. That puts a little damper on this whole fun craze, doesn’t it?

But he has apologized since all that came to light:

As a proud South Korean who was educated in the United States and lived there for a very significant part of my life, I understand the sacrifices American servicemen and women have made to protect freedom and democracy in my country and around the world

The song I was featured in—eight years ago—was part of a deeply emotional reaction to the war in Iraq and the killing of two Korean schoolgirls that was part of the overall antiwar sentiment shared by others around the world at that time. While I’m grateful for the freedom to express one’s self, I’ve learned there are limits to what language is appropriate and I’m deeply sorry for how these lyrics could be interpreted. I will forever be sorry for any pain I have caused by those words,” he added.

I have been honored to perform in front of American soldiers in recent months—including an appearance on the Jay Leno show specifically for them—and I hope they and all Americans can accept my apology. While it’s important that we express our opinions, I deeply regret the inflammatory and inappropriate language I used to do so. In my music, I try to give people a release, a reason to smile. I have learned that thru music, our universal language we can all come together as a culture of humanity and I hope that you will accept my apology.

Well, ok. It’s obviously understandable to be upset after what happened in 2004, but talking about killing daughters and mothers, and killing them all “slowly and painfully”? That just seems like a lot for any situation. But, you know, I also disagree with the death penalty, so I don’t really have that whole “eye for an eye” mentality. Because that shit makes the whole world blind.

Do you still plan on jamming to this song? Or, if you’re like me, do you still plan on mildly tolerating it when other people jam to it?

21 CommentsLeave a comment

  • if im not wrong tat was someone else’s song n he jus sang it at a concert. if he made tat song himself, now, tat would be a huge problem. we all sing to songs tat talk abt sex or some sort of violence (the music we listen to nowadays, really? sigh.) i mean, u really think whistle by flo rida is just a song about whistling?

  • Psy isn’t the only South Korean who was feeling a lot of animosity toward the US at that time. Frankly, I doubt most Americans even remembered the incident that fueled this particular performances until this story (I certainly didn’t). Although I’m a proud American, I’m not about to defend all of my country’s choices–when it comes to those two Korean girls, we did wrong. And we let those who were responsible go, scot-free.

    Perhaps his anger is misdirected, but it’s still understandable.

    • It’s a shame, the US should ALWAYS take the moral highground when these things happen. I do remember this incident, as well as girls who had been raped by US servicemen in Okinawa.

    • It’s definitely understandable, and I’m certainly not trying to defend what happened. I don’t want anyone to think that I’m coming down on this guy for saying something negative about the U.S., because I’m not. His anger is totally understandable, and the U.S. and its citizens are capable of and have done many, many awful things.

      It’s just that in the context of this blog, we’re going to talk about the guy who has the most YouTube hits ever as opposed to other bits of world news that don’t include celebrities. Not that the other stuff isn’t worthy of discussing, because it most definitely is, it’s just here, we’re probably going to go with the Gangnam Style guy.

      Really I just don’t understand this sort of reaction to something, the “you’ve done something terrible to me so I’m going to do something terrible to you” thing. Like the death penalty, the “you killed someone I loved so I want someone to kill you.” Someone close to me was killed, and I didn’t feel anything close to that. And regardless, saying that they should kill the mothers and daughters and all of the people who were involved in the incident just doesn’t sit right with me. That’s all.

      TL;DR: I think his anger is understandable, but I still don’t think it’s great.

  • As soon as I read about all this, I envisioned Psy singing “Kill the Americans” to the tune of Born in the USA. Try it, and you’ll feel better.

  • Eh. The US have done some pretty fucked up shit and you really cannot blame someone for exploding and saying really awful stuff. The US is responsible, either directly or as a contributing factor, to some of the worst atrocities in Korean history to date, as far as I know, collaborating with Japan in their invasion of Korea, then waging a puppet war with the USSR in Korean ground, and establishing US military bases in Korea (as there are in Japan and other countries, including mine, Spain). There are many people in the world who are very angry with the role the US have played in the past century and while I understand it can’t be pretty to hear, it’s a reality.

  • But american army scums aka heroes can rape Japanese, Filipina, Korean, Vietnamese, middle eastern women and girls, whenever they want, rite? Hey world all bow down to the most retarded nation on earth and of the bloodiest, the US of A…..

    • The actions of a few are hardly representative of US servicemen and citizenry.That being said, any who have violated should be immediately court martialed for “conduct unbecoming” and kicked out of the service, then should be handed over to the local authorities for prosecution…

  • I just remembered this song by Toby Keith “Red White and Blue” where he sings about putting a boot up some nations ass… and THIS is ok?

  • I will forever change the station as soon as that song comes on. I don’t care who was killed or how, you never wish death on another.

  • I will forever change the station as soon as that song comes on. I don’t care who was killed or how, you never wish death on another. Oh! I forgot to say…FUCK YOU, PSY! NEVER COME BACK TO THE STATES! Stay in your opressed, fucked South Korea.

  • He did a concert back in 2004, we’re learning now, and here are some cool things he said:“Kill those f-cking Yankees who have been torturing Iraqi captives/Kill those f-cking Yankees who ordered them to torture/Kill their daughters, mothers, daughter-in-law and fathers/Kill them all slowly and painfully.” … Ok ok first of all that was 8 years ago starting to think your just digging dirt for nothing and it’s just sad… second of all you stated that he wants them people to die slowly but as seen in the excerpt ” Kill those f-cking Yankees who ordered them to torture/Kill their daughters, mothers, daughter-in-law and fathers/Kill them all slowly and painfully.” that says from the point of view from the yankees…. idiocy…

  • ah nevermind those where slash breaks in lyrics… sorry used to seeing commas as breaks and not those…