PETALING JAYA, Jan 8 — It was an awkward moment when a group of French girls asked Chinese singer Huang Zitao if he was a member of K-pop boyband BTS.
In a recent episode of Chinese variety show The Protectors, Huang notices a group of teenagers staring at him on the street and asks the show’s emcee to approach them for a photo.
“Tell her to take a photo with us. Didn’t they already recognise me? She was looking at my Instagram,” Huang said, based on translations by Twitter user @sumoeri.
After posing for the picture, one of the girls asks Huang in English, “Are you BTS? You look like a member of BTS.”
The 26-year-old appears dumbfounded at first before replying in the negative.
Ppl ask me to do an unbiased translation of what Tao has said
First of all, the full clip is 1:56mins, that’s the clip uploaded by sina variety news acc and trended on Chinese weibo, this is the source, I will translate from this clip. pic.twitter.com/iUGWVOs1AnAdvertisement— 蘇墨 (@sumoeri) 7 January 2020
He goes on to ask them if they know EXO, a South Korean-Chinese pop group that Huang was once part of.
“Do you know EXO? I was an EXO member before (this),” he said.
One of the girls flatly replies with a “wow” and the group breaks out into awkward laughter.
As Huang walks away, he comically rages at the camera and demands that the producers delete the scene from the final cut.
“Cut out this part where they said I look like a member of BTS!
“Before this, BTS was not even as popular as (EXO). And now someone has told me that I look a lot like a member of BTS.
“I don’t know who’s who anymore. Who am I? Where am I?” he said.
Huang’s response has caused tension between K-pop fans online, with some slamming him for being petty and jealous of BTS’ popularity.
Others accused the French girls of being racist by assuming that Huang was part of BTS just because he was Asian.
Instead of getting mad at Tao,y'all should be mad at the them for streotyping and being racist that every Asian men they see or meet is BTS boys.This is not only insulting to Tao or Other Asian men but also to BTS.🤷
— #JYONG'sTrash88 #BIGBANGCOACHELLA2020 (@BIGBANG5KING) 7 January 2020
Don’t forget the locals were being racist to him. Tao left in 2015 when EXO were at their peak and BTS weren’t as big as EXO at the time. Tao is a very straightforward person and spits the truth. He does not care about the hate he gets. ———
— S✨ {ɢᴇᴛ ᴡᴇʟʟ sᴏᴏɴ ᴅᴀᴡᴏɴ} (@sofiatttran) 8 January 2020
Huang debuted with EXO in 2012 but left in 2015 following disputes with the group’s label SM Entertainment over his contract.
He went on to launch a solo music career in China under the stage name Z.Tao and became known for his roles in dramas like Negotiator and The Brightest Star in the Sky.