To promote their newest album, “Arirang,” BTS released an animated teaser March 13, which included shots of Howard University. However, the nod to the historically Black university didn’t land well with fans.
The teaser starts with the seven band members boarding a ship to the U.S. They arrive at Howard University’s campus, and there they perform for a small crowd.
The animation pays tribute to seven Korean students who fled from their hometown and attended the university in 1896. Three of these seven students would later record several songs, including the folk anthem “Arirang,” becoming the first Korean voices ever recorded.
Fans and students soon pointed out that the teaser misrepresented Howard University, as the trailer showed mostly white people at the HBCU. This oversight was particularly striking given the university’s legacy of Black education, which dates back to the post-Civil War era, when it first opened its doors to formerly enslaved people. Although the university has historically welcomed students of all backgrounds to pursue an education, the absence of Black people in the animation is difficult to overlook.
Howard University addressed the controversy through its campus news outlet, The Dig, publishing an article Friday that recognized the historical significance of the Korean students’ story but also highlighted the teaser’s failure to reflect the campus’ Black identity.
“…most of the people depicted in the audience on The Yard are not Black, which belies the institution’s history as one of the country’s foremost colleges with a predominantly Black student body,” Cedric Mobley, Christen Hill and Yawen Deng wrote. “Though much of the faculty at the time was not Black, the video does elucidate the need for cultural sensitivity and historical accuracy even when intentions are positive.”
Criticisms were made by social media users who noted a recurring issue of racism in K-pop. User Hatts13 wrote on Reddit’s r/kpopnoir forum discussing the trailer and Howard University's response.
“This could have been another opportunity for some K-pop fans not just to learn but actually comprehend Black American history, cultural appropriation within K-pop, how Korean and Black American history have often intertwined,” user Hatts13 wrote in a comment. “But that horrible mix of parasocial relationships and anti-blackness typically found in fandoms rears its head again as the roadblock.”
Defenders of the teaser emphasized the creative aspect and intentions of the animation, emphasizing that it is not a documentary. Other fans argued that a focus should be on celebrating the fact that Howard University has been inclusive to students of various racial backgrounds.
“I'm already getting a bit frustrated because people are examining the trailer with a magnifying glass and commenting why there aren't only Black people represented in that brief moment on the campus,” Reddit user Danigantt wrote on the r/bangtan forum. “But, the early photos of alumni I saw, many were indeed white. The first students to attend Howard were white (women) anyway. We should already know most, if not all, of the faculty were white during that time period. So please, don't get hung up on it. It is a very minor detail in this incredible story they are trying to tell.”
BTS has not released an official response. However, a disclaimer is included in the teaser.
“This video was inspired by the story of seven young Koreans as documented in The Washington Post on May 8, 1896 (“Seven Koreans at Howard”), some of whom captured the first known audio recordings of Koreans in Washington, D.C., on July 24 of that same year,” the teaser trailer said.
As a modern reimagining, this work draws upon the profound cultural significance of these historical records, which preserve the authentic voices of young Korean men and the first-ever recording of “Arirang.”
This production may deviate from actual historical events and does not serve as a formal evaluation or interpretation of any historical event or person.
