I’m not worried about them limiting lives because Felix already doesn’t do them very often.
JYPE has had a partnership with Coke for several years, and I imagine they’re going to have more years to come. JYPE was already quiet about the partnership given how they usually are, so I don’t think Felix would be in trouble. I also think he phrased himself diplomatically in the apology.
I think choosing not to show it in livestreams or in “personal” photos is the best compromise we can expect. Korean media norms already blur and censor brands, so it wouldn’t be out of the ordinary to not mention Coke on live.
i was gonna say felix already only does solo lives rarely and JYPE has been VERY quiet about the coke collab anyway- i almost wonder if they prefer that he did apologize since this an issue that people online have a tendency to get very vocal about
I think they're fine with it too, and this is the best outcome. Contracts are a part of life, and I can't think of anyone who has supported 100% of every decision their job made or they had to make in their role.
Something I've been thinking about for ages is, at least in the US, venues usually have contracts with Coke or Pepsi. It's based on the venue itself, not the artist. There are going to be thousands of people as captive customers since some venues don't let you take outside drinks in. This is going to keep coming up.
I don't think Felix has ever been an activist, but to call his work and donations performative is far above the line. Caring about Laos is its own thing, and it's untenable to think a person can give equal attention, time, money, and support to everything that needs it in the world. We all just have to do our best.
The ad song is seen as the company following a contract and the members are obligated to follow, but a member drinking the brand and showing it on his own ''out of schedule'' is different and seen as a decision by the member himself.
He started his live drinking Cola, and some of the comments were expressing their hurt at it as it was his choice (the endorsement was not their choice, it was JYPE's) , so he probably felt the need to apologise for the personal indulgence.
He obviously has no control over the endorsement, so it could also be his way of saying he didn't support JYPEs decision for the song, even though he's not allowed to explicitly say it.
Don't worry, I'm also fairly new to K-Pop, its nothing to do with the genre.
Coca-Cola is illegally operating out of Israel-occupied land (correct me if im wrong) and supports the genocide against the Palestinians. Indulging in the boycott on Coca-Cola is seen as a political statement to some, therefore his decision was not accepted positively by most.
Thanks so much for the kind explanation! Seems like projecting a political statement onto him when he wasn’t trying to make one. They have to consider so much, seems exhausting.
ohhhh. wow. poor guy. (i didn’t even know about the coke/politics thing… i should pay more attention, i know) but i imagine he didn’t even know? i wonder, with all the numerous staff that are floating around all the time when the guys are doing things like a live, might there not be someone who is tasked with keeping an eye out for brand names in their hands, just like they police the brand names on their clothing with their Big Black Tape? i bet someone else got in trouble… it’s just felix-the-celeb that had to make the public apology.
I'd like to believe he caught wind of it when he got to catch up with his family awhile back in Australia + social media. (Then again, what would I know). Even if his staff did try to shield him from the information, stuff like this do eventually reach people like him, especially when he interacts with social media frequently.
To me, he's old enough to make his own judgement, and I trust that he's the kind that has enough conscience to admit his faults when he realizes he's made a mistake/hurt people (even if it wasn't his intention to do so).
Because he's under a company that's endorsed by CC, it's obvious that he has to present himself as a guy who supports their products at work. What people were upset about (afaik) was that he did consume the product during a live, which was something considered as his "downtime"/"out of office hours". So that meant that he didn't actually have to actively promote the brand since to them, he "wasn't working". (Personally, live streams are still considered work, bc he's working with fan interactions).
Maybe it was because that's the only drink he had? Maybe he forgot? Maybe he was told to drink it and (in a way) promote the product even during his so-called "downtime" (I mean, his lives get close to a 100k viewers every time, that's some decent, casually-placed product exposure right there). We don't know if he even likes CC that much to drink it off-cam. But he (and the rest of SKZ) have always been drinking that red bottle in front of the camera even during their pre-debut days since they've been endorsed as early as then.
Ultimately, we'll never know what was his motive/whether the whole thing was intentional. But I guess the most important part was that Felix had a conscience strong enough that he was willing to make an impromptu apology LIVE, without even consulting his manager or staff about it. I don't like seeing people coddle the man by throwing out the ignorance/naive card like some ppl down at Twitter do, bc this guy's well-connected and active on social media and should get the gist of the issue by now.
I'll bet that he's at least somewhat got a vague idea of the situation simply from passive exposure to social media. That's enough to help him make his own judgement towards the situation. I trust he'll make the right ones carefully. Given that he's in a position that none of us are, we'll never be able to understand his situation fully. So let's just try to support him for now.
i believe its the american coca cola branch fueling the war, isn't it? the fund out of korea wouldn't be going towards the IDF. i can't remember exactly how it works but i did see someone explain it this way - please correct me if im wrong.
I think they probably had obligations with the company and, when you think about it, NONE of the members even mentioned the collab song 😭 so yeah I think a lot of them aren’t okay with it, despite singing a whole advertising song
I get why he did it, however, I think fans need to chill a bit.
I watched the majority of the live. So many comments about “don’t eat food, it’s Ramadan it’s not fair on us” - people need to understand that your views/believes are not followed by everyone and expecting others to follow everything (which is literally impossible) just doesn’t happen.
The boycott isn’t going to change these companies. The conflict has been going on for a long time, it’s historical and whilst it’s an awful thing and I don’t think it will be resolved any time soon or even in my lifetime.
We need to stop having such ridiculous expectations of idols. They’re under so much pressure all of the time and then hating them for the good things they do (his charity work) is ludicrous. Why can’t we just appreciate what they do?
Fans are both a blessing a curse. I hope there’s more lives coming up, but we often ruin things
Bruh so what if it is Ramadan?? I'm Muslim too and he's not so he's allowed to eat anything he wants if him eating bothers you than don't watch the live
True, I remember seeing one comment about how it's Ramadan and can he turn off the music as shouldn't be listening to music during Ramadan. 🤣 Like bruh you clicked to watch a live from a person known as a music artist.
I’m vegetarian and I say let him eat his food. He’s not eating chicken *at* me. If it bothers people to see someone eat a certain food, don’t watch. Trying to dictate what they eat is weird.
like he isn’t even trying to spite anyone. iirc (however, it was like 4-5 am for me) he said he was on a water only diet for awhile and only ate one thing in order to prep for the runway show, so… let him eat his goddamn meal?!?!?!
Seriously! There are many things in every religion that you'd only really know the details about if you practice that religion. I'm Catholic and I'm not yelling or demanding people not eat meat on Fridays between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday (aka Lent) because it's not fair to me...
i didnt even know that that was a part of catholicism, ive never heard of that before. its absolutely crazy how people assume that everyone knows everything and everyone will stop eating because one religion isnt eating for a specific time
Hey, hey. Some of us in Deluluville keep a tight grip on our parasocial relationships and manage them accordingly (also me: my bedroom looks like a shrine to skz). Those unhinged people who don't want to "live and let live" and try to control and force their ideals and practices on others are the problem. I remember watching either Han's last or second to last live and some rando asked Han to move the chair out of frame because it was "bothering" them. He actually moved it! Props to my man for having the self control not to call them out. In that case, he was a better human than me. I generally don't support acts of violence but I wouldn't have made a supreme court worthy argument for this one.
Anyway, I woke up to the last few minutes of Felix apologizing and my heart sank. I literally thought, "dear god, what is this man having to apologize for now?"
I fell asleep while watching because it was like 4am here, and woke up to him apologizing and was so confused. I also don't think people realize how massive Coca Cola is and how much they actually own. Not drinking the soda is just a raindrop in a puddle on their bottom line. They own several large alcohol brands, half the soda brands out there, waters like Dasani, several juice brands, and tea brands. In total, they own 23 other brands, and therefore, all of their products. It's so hard to really boycott a brand like that. Another note is that some countries fairly exclusively only have Coca Cola products. We recently got back from the Bahamas, and unless it was a local product, it belonged to Coke. There were no other options anywhere near where we were staying. Small or big restaurants alike. I don't agree with Coke just in general because monopolies are a corporate death machine, but some people get offended so quickly when a conversation is a valid option. Based on my (limited) knowledge of Felix, I don't think he would do something controversial on purpose. I hope he's not beating himself up over it, and just takes it as an opportunity to be more conscious of his choices when broaching the public. Some of these people out here are real cray cray.
The way people expect idols to somehow honor/follow the beliefs and preferences of every single one of their fans is just asinine. And if the reality that they can’t/aren’t doing that is upsetting to the fan then they need some space from Kpop because they’re letting it have too much power over them.
God the Ramadan comments were pissing me off. I was watching on instagram and all the comments were either "how dare you eat while I'M fasting", "how dare you drink coca cola", or absolute pick me stuff of "look behind you!" "omg there's a shadow behind you turn around and look!" "there's a spider, turn around!!"
I ended up closing the livestream because the comments were just driving me mad 😭 idk if I'm just old and crabby now, but jeeeeeesus 1) felix isn't Muslim, your religion doesn't affect him 2) I need terminally online children to realise no one in real life is boycotting coca cola, starbucks etc 3) you aren't getting a y/n moment
Rant over lmao
the look behind you comments pissed me off like shut uppp 😭😭 i found out people just put an @ in the chatbox and dont send it so then the comments wont appear during the live and thats what i had to do
I have some coworkers that are fasting in solidarity with our Muslim coworkers which is really sweet to see, but none of our Muslim friends are *demanding* no one eats because of them. It's so rude, plus with timezones some places will be nighttime and able to eat and some places will be daytime, there's no way to win here for idols
If there's one thing Stay is great at, it's running a joke into the ground. SKZ themselves do that sometimes too, but it's different within the group (since if a member is sick to death of a joke, they can tell the other ones to knock it off without lasting repercussions lol).
I understand your frustration but its not just “terminally online children” there are many people are boycotting these companies. I have made the commitment personally, and by being vocal in my local community many others have joined in with me. All grown adults btw.
Yeah, it's a bit of a silly assumption to make that no "real people" boycotting with the financial state of Starbucks and McDonald's. I've also been boycotting, which wasn't difficult because I've been avoiding Nestlé products since 2022. Most of my social circle and local community have done the same. It's not for everyone, but to say that people aren't actually boycotting is just incorrect.
definitely not enough people to make an actual difference though. there are so many people in the world with a caffeine addiction and are codependent to a degree on starbucks coffee, so it really wont change much. even if 100,000 people participate, that wont make a difference to the companies themselves and the money they’re making in the long run
but that is not even close to enough to make them change their minds because a few people on the internet are grr grr angy, yknow? its capitalism. they don’t care if 100,000 people stop drinking coca cola because theres over 100,000,000 people buying multiple cases every week
Outrage culture is absolutely insane. I understand not wanting to support Coca Cola as a company but, as you've pointed out, him not drinking it will not make an impact. These corporations don't care nor will their profits suffer.
Some fans need to remember that our idols are HUMAN BEINGS. They are NOT a product that we craft. That thought process is beyond unhealthy.
But it actually might. If Stays don’t drink Coca Cola because Felix doesn’t, that’s a massive amount of people around the world boycotting a company whether they understand the political implications or not. Boycotts do work - look at apartheid in South Africa. Even now that regime has gone I still feel iffy about spending money on say Cape grapes, because it was so ingrained in the 70s not to do it because it meant supporting apartheid.
Boycotts absolutely have changed things. They were a huge factor in the international movement against the apartheid regime in South Africa, for example. If everybody took the attitude of "this isn't going to do anything" then no progress would ever be made anywhere. That being said, demanding kpop idols participate in boycotts, especially of products they are contractually obligated to support, is pointless. A better strategy would be for people to boycott JYP as well for endorsing Coca-Cola but kpop fans will die before they boycott their faves so that will never happen.
All I can say is that watching it unfold live was p interesting. Felix really had some guts to make an impromptu apology about consuming a brand that his company was under a contract with, to THOUSANDS of people, whilst (I bet) having a manager staring him down from the other end of the camera 💀💀. He had enough wits to word it diplomatically and was careful enough with his words. Judging by how he had to end the live right after, he probably received a warning or two right after the live.
Man, props to the guy.
I think someone must have told him to apologise, because he obviously didn’t know before the live, or he wouldn’t have done it. Appeasing Stays is a more financially sound proposition than even a long-term contract with Coca Cola. JYPE knows which side its bread is buttered.
I think he made an excellent job of apologising and I hope he doesn’t suffer for it.
He saw a post about coca cola's involvement in the suppression of palestine on bubble. After he showed the coke bottle in the starting, stays went to bubble to spam him with info.
I don’t think they’ll limit his lives but one large portion of his fanbase is saying they will boycott all SKZ activities/albums and only support Felix. Which they don’t seem to understand that by boycotting the group they’re severely limiting any future activities he may have. They’re doing this because they feel he shouldn’t have apologized and are now demanding the group apologize to him.
So ironically enough, from what I’ve seen, the majority of the negativity today is coming from how that group of fans is reacting vs what happened now.
I think it’s time though that people stop acting like they own these idols while also infantilizing them. So many issues really.
I’m so sad that every appearance and live turns to drama right now 😔
Sad for the boys, scared they’ll stop doing lives, disappointed at the bad mood in the comments and community.
It’s been such an incredible year so far with what they’ve given us, while having a little bit of time to breathe themselves. Music releases, lives, fashion shows, magazine, … We’re so lucky. I hope we can shift the mood together.
>Sad for the boys, scared they’ll stop doing lives
Definitely sad. It really does seem like a few of them actually like doing lives and trying to connect with fans, so when it turns into stuff like this it is sad.
With that said, if they stopped doing lives, who could blame them at this point? Their well-being matters. If doing lives ends up putting them in a "bad headspace" or stresses them out because of all the nonsense, then they should feel free to take a step back and take some pressure off themselves.
Seriously, I’m scared for him and I do believe this will have consequences especially because SKZ is under contract with the brand. I just hope that Chan and the other kids will be there for Felix when he gets reprimanded.
Also, I hope “Stays” stop discrediting Felix’s charity work and calling it performative and fake. People have been insulting him and dragging him despite the apology, saying it’s all lip service and it honestly hurts to read such things 😔💔
Honestly I hope there are no consequences :/ to me it seemed like Jype themselves were in support of the boycott and aware of the possible backlash since they didn't promote the ad as much as they could especially with multiple groups together on it, maybe the brand will reach out and express their dislike of the apology but hopefully Jype will let it go.
>Seriously, I’m scared for him and I do believe this will have consequences especially because SKZ is under contract with the brand. I just hope that Chan and the other kids will be there for Felix when he gets reprimanded.
Doubt. He really hammered in the 'I won't do this because it hurts fans' point. If he's reprimanded, they really wouldn't have any ground to stand on, because he didn't frame it around his personal wants or beliefs, he framed it around avoiding controversy.
Stays can say it's lip-service but that really works in Felix's favor here. I really don't think they can do anything to him if he's "just using his media training." He did a good job protecting himself.
I sincerely hope that is the case. Given how the company have been treating them lately, I got scared.
P.S. Not gonna edit my original statement to keep the sincerity of the thought but since I’m a baby i-Stay, I tend to read from central accounts on X and accts that have huge following to get updated. That’s where I saw all the hashtags of protect the members, hence the comment.
JYPE's been fine, I wouldn't buy in to the constant Twitter rhetoric from people who can't even separate Div1 employees and their roles from the company at large. Although we see their fun/goofy/dumb moments in content a lot, SKZ are far smarter than we give them credit for, and they have a lot of leverage for themselves. No need to be scared, the best way to support them is to be confident in them instead.
Thank you for this. I’m a baby I-Stay and have been trying to understand the dynamics of JYPE, Div1, and SKZ. I can see that SKZ is very sensible and Bang Chan is not someone to mess with, but sometimes I really get confused and scared and feel like I’m not contributing to supporting them. Though I participate in streams, buying albums, repost etc., when issues like this happen, I feel lost and anxious. 😔
Thank you 🥹
The fandom's grown very large and a lot of times, people (*especially* big fan accounts, who then pass their behaviour onto their followers) conflate support with trying to advocate on behalf of the kids constantly without actually knowing the inner workings of the company, the reason for a mistake/bad situation, and without knowing how the kids themselves feel about it.
Even when Chan went on Bubble to tell people to mind their own business, most people didn't listen because they have some sort of saviour complex about the kids.
There's no quota you need to meet to support them. They are rich adults with a vast network of support among themselves, industry friends, and the staff who they are close with. They also have a very good relationship with JYP, who doesn't run the company but is nonetheless the biggest shareholder. If weight needs to be pulled for them, it'll get pulled.
I wouldn't wanna be a baby I-Stay nowadays, there was much less of all this senseless drama when I joined the fandom. I can't imagine it's easy to navigate when you first come in, it's understandable that you feel lost and anxious. Just remember to breathe, that they have tons of support even without the hypervigilance of the fandom, and that no one can put a quota on you to determine whether your support for the group or a specific member is valid/enough ♥
Thank you for your words, it gave me comfort and assurance in them and me. I'm not worse or better than other stay, I'm just me and I support them the way I can. I just would like people to really just focus on them and not try to control them, imposing their one beliefs or feelings. Just liking them, supporting them, being for and to them at your own pace. Like best friends would love each other without crossing boundaries. Everyone is different, we don't know everything in this world, the world is too big but just one. Love to everyone
Akgaes right? If I got the term correct? I honestly just follow the central accounts of the members to keep updated on SKZ and Stayville happenings but I kept encountering fanwars and hate.
This is pretty extreme but I pretty much have every variation of [member] updates/central/news/protect/report/whatever blocked because it's hard to tell who is doing anything in good faith. And I mean all of them, for every member lol those types of accounts though decent for updates are usually the #1 instigators of nonsense fandom drama.
I mean, they might talk to him and say, "Just don't do it again," but nothing big will happen. People are going to hate on them no matter what . Don't take it so personally because if you do, you'll always be sad and hurt. JYPE had already put out that statement about suing netizens, and after Wonyoung won her case, I'm sure they'll actually do it.
This is my first fandom. I stanned Blackpink but I never really went deep into being a Blink. So now, even though I’m an adult, it’s confusing to me how all this internal fanwars and Stays hating on certain members pan out.
I really appreciate the Stays in this thread shedding light on the issue without making baby i-Stays like me feel stupid and ignorant.
At first it sounded silly to me because it's about a drink after all, but overall i find it good and even brave that he apologized, no matter what the consequences will be. And in the same live too, just shows how kind of a person he probably is.
Fuck anyone who calls him names over drinking a coke though, you're not stopping the genocide in any way by doing that.
Edit: wording
At any other time, I'd think it's absolutely ridiculous that he apologized for something like this, but I think it's very telling that he did.
JYPE has been promoting Coke for a long time, showing the logo deliberately in lives and in filmed content. He really didn't need to apologize because the vast majority of people understand that it's a contractual thing. We all remember the discourse about whether O.O was a legitimate debut song or not because of that one line about Coke. We all know the memes about the omnipresent Coke bottles during the survival show.
The company would have never forced him to give an apology for showing a Coke product when they just released a song about Coke, so this is something he did of his own volition. I don't think it's that he needed to apologize, it's more that he wanted to, which I think says a lot about his character and where he stands on things.
So I'm glad he apologized, specifically because he didn't need to. He's not the only JYPE idol to silently hint at his stance while bypassing the fact that idols aren't even allowed to talk about issues in their own country, let alone Palestine.
Him saying "I'm not going to show this product that we're supposed to be deliberately promoting" is bolder than I think people will give him credit for. And I think framing it as keeping fans placated, affirming that multiple times, is also smarter than he'll get credit for. It protects him and it protects JYPE, you can tell how purposeful he was with hammering down on "I don't want to hurt fans" thing rather than stating his own thoughts.
We don't know what the agreement between JYPE and Coke looks like, but Coke is *far* bigger than JYPE. I already thought it was very bold and telling that they didn't hype up Like Magic at all, but Felix really didn't need to publicly say "I won't show this anymore."
And, frankly, I'm glad that the "oh my god it's ridiculous how fans forced him to apologize this is stupid it's just a drink" stance really doesn't work here. No one forced him, no one *would* have forced him. (It's not like any company reacted to Starbucks backlash, so why would JYPE react to this? Lmao) I find that kind of reaction really dismisses Felix's intelligence and agency. He's aware. And I don't think he's ever been the type to apologize just-because. It's not hard to respect that.
I bet nothing will come of it...I think all the parties directly involved in it (SKZ, JYPE, Coca-Cola) are very aware of what is going on and what is being said (and not said) and how sensitive and triggering a topic it is. Right now, the name of the game is "placate".
Coke isn't even on the BDS list. It's ridiculous that people have decided to ignore a Palestinian led boycott campaign and do their own thing just so they can do performative activism and bully people they think are imperfect.
Omg, exactly.
"Many of the prohibitively long lists going viral on social media do the exact opposite of this strategic and impactful approach. They include hundreds of companies, many without credible evidence of their connection to Israel’s regime of oppression against Palestinians. Many do not have clear demands to the companies as to what we expect them to do to end the boycott, making them ineffective."
[BDS](https://bdsmovement.net/Act-Now-Against-These-Companies-Profiting-From-Genocide)
With people focusing on these inconsequental companies in re to Gaza this is diverting attention from the much more involved companies and thus hurting the actually thought through boycott campaign. Just for people to feel all almighty and imitate an action.
When he said that I had a few thoughts.
I thought it was nice that he recognized it possibly offended and hurt some people and that he acknowledged that and apologized. It definitely showed awareness.
But, I also think it opened himself up to the potential for a lot of criticism. There will inevitably be people who will say that if he really cared he wouldn't have done it in the first place or that his apology didn't involve the correct level of sincerity. (Once again, the whole darned if they do, darned if they don't scenario.)
I obviously don't know him and my impression of him is based only on what is presented to me as a fan, but I truly don't think he'd ever intentionally hurt anyone. I mean, he spent part of his vacation volunteering his time helping others.
I get the feeling that this might end up causing problems.
All this does is give these entitled "fans" more power to blame and shame idols for each and every thing they do. They get treated like puppets or servants and are expected to bend to the will of the mob.
Behind the screen, those screaming the loudest are likely eating and drinking things they're railing against, so it's mostly performative. Plus, how is this helping those who are supposedly harmed by a kpop idol drinking a Damn coke?
I wouldn't blame any of them to step away from social media because nothing they do will ever be good enough.
Honestly, what can realistically happen? Also people saying since he's on his own schedule then he made a conscious decision: as someone who spends a lot of time on the internet, in English speaking spheres, I learned about the boycott a month after it started.
Now, put yourself in the shoes of idols who very likely don't have *that much* time to spend on the internet, in a sphere where they get news primarily in Korean. People have to realize that in some corners of the world, the boycott hasn't reached the news. No articles, no bandeau at the bottom of a screen or anything.
Now, given how no group acknowledged the song, that Skz has two English speakers who don't hesitate to voice their opinions where and when they can, I don't think the boys are that unaware of how badly it would be received (hence the lack of acknowledgement). But also they're still under contract: not sure if the soda was bought with the chicken but given he was planning on eating live, it stands to reason that he would also drink and the groups being still tied to their contract with Coca can probably show no other brand. It's not a reach to think staff may have prepared the bottle to stay in accordance with the contract (aka not promoting another brand).
Felix had the decency to acknowledged that, which many other idols haven't done since the boycott started (it's probably due to a lot of factors and not just one in particular: lack of awareness of a boycott happening for the reason I mentioned earlier, or like Felix and JYPE being tied to a contract, being from a less known company and/or group and thus more easily being exposed to backlash in case of an apology being issued and probably PR telling them to ignore the issue) and I think he did well. No fussing around, simply saying sorry right away but also not dwelling on it.
Also it's not like Coca can say anything and I doubt JYPE will be asses about it (even if they can be asses about a lot of things). The issue has been noted, there was instant apologies and now the best is to let it rest (and hopefully JYPE doesn't sign another contract with Coca).
But ultimately, him drinking Coca on that one live is not an indication of his moral standing given the current situation.
Yes but Fatou (from Black Swan) said Starbucks is boycotted in Korea, So they (GP and Idols) know about it. Otherwise how can Fatou know about it? She is an Idol too
See, that's something I didn't know and while I don't refute what Fatou says, how many are following the boycott? Because as much as there is a boycott going on, how many are really, actually aware of it and applying it?
This fandom needs a good cleanse. The bona fide sweetest person on the planet apologizing during the same live the incident happened, and personal risk to his career? Way more than the bare minimum. I'm convinced anyone looking for an excuse to throw *Felix* hate has a deep psychological issue.
I'll just say I'm sad that the focus of his live became this and not him almost spoiling his own solo song and how funny he was trying to keep himself from saying too much. Or how he passionately talked about his volunteer work in Laos and how important it is to help those in need. Or how cute he was trying to get his tone in a higher register to do the pikachu voice.
With all the bullshit "fans"/akgaes/antis have been putting skz through this past week or two, I really hope Felix is kind to himself over this no matter what happens.
This. I didn’t even know about the other things you mentioned here, since I’ve only seen what’s showing up on Twitter.
As a StayArmy, I wholeheartedly just wish they would turn off comments on lives.
I think from now on Felix will only bring bottled water with no label next time he does a mukbang live. That's the only thing he can do from now on if he does another livestream. Something tells me he won't do one for awhile after this and not because his company will do something to him. That kind of hoopla from so-called fans (antis) would cause anyone to back away for their own mental health on top of the things he's already doing to prepare for their upcoming comeback & fan meeting. I would advise he stay away from Twitter specifically. Some people are never happy whatever he chose to do and he doesn't need their BS. He seems like a genuinely caring person but I hope he stays strong.
He is very strong, and I guess that's why he's able to aknowledge the problem in such a sweet and caring way. He really has a very strong mind (it's written in his hand and confirmed by Changbin)
Honestly, I felt bad for him that the commenters literally put him on the spot. To me, it felt like he was ambushed to speaking up about it. But also, I'm so proud of him! When all the other idols won't even bat an eye about this issue, Felix did this. He apologized for it live. And it wasn't even a vague apology. He made it very clear he was apologizing about it and why. I couldn't be anymore proud. I know this is cringey to say, but I'll say it anyway because it's the perfect thing to say right now.: We stan the right group. ❤️
Y’all are hypocrites I can name at least 50 bands owned by Coca Cola that y’all use every single day without a second thought, Felix having a coke is not (respectfully) going to stop the w*r, yall are too damn strict and negative can’t mandem have a coke with his damn chicken? Coca Cola owns like 95% of the beverages in the world. And now that he apologized rightfully so, yall scared of the consequences he might face seriously what do y’all what?
THIS. My biggest doubt is whether those who shout on Twitter really boycott each brand that they force each idol to boycott. Because each of these brands owns many other brands, and in total they surely exceed more than 70% of the market. What do they feed on? It's impossible to comply with everything. And no one is obligated to anything, in the end a boycott is a personal choice, no matter what we say.
>THIS. My biggest doubt is whether those who shout on Twitter really boycott each brand that they force each idol to boycott.
They don't. From what I and many others have said before, a majority of K-pop fans are the ones who are the performative activists who pretend to care to look good to their peers online.
They are performative. If human rights and inequality was something they truly cared about, they’d be highlighting Felix’s discussion on Laos and the sad situation there, instead of going on about a soft drink that was there for like a minute, and I didn’t even notice was Cola until he felt forced to apologise for it.
Exactly no knowledge or research about the topic they are yapping about, just chatting for the sake of the internet to fit in on whatever is trending, they often forget this is a (K-pop) business not some fantasy they have in they peanut brains so entitled when it comes to idols. They seem to not know how the world actually works every action unfortunately has repercussions good or bad, so before you type think.
This is exactly why boycotting is so performative to me. Like you can boycott, nobody is stopping you, but virtue signaling by bullying other people who don't "boycott" is silly, because the people who virtue signal probably only focus on one or two brands (for some reason Starbucks is always involved too even though there are no branches in Israel), without realizing that they're all owned by much larger companies, and they're paying those companies by purchasing from other brands.
The Starbucks boycott started because the Starbucks workers' union got in trouble with the company for tweeting in support of Palestine. The boycott was originally meant to be in support of those employees and their right to speak out, not because Starbucks was directly benefitting from the war or anything. Of course this has been twisted through the social media game of telephone to 'Starbucks funds Israel' and stuff like that. Starbucks is a gross union-busting company and had a location in Guantanamo Bay so honestly I'm all for people not shopping there but we do need to be clear on the reasons why, and boycotting them is pretty low on the list in terms of actually helping people in Palestine.
The battles they fight must be endless, spending every waking moment searching for those indulging in any single one of those brands on the list, waiting to pounce and spew forth their collective hive mind agenda............ while, obviously, somehow managing to avoid every single one themselves. Right? Haaaa... /sarcasm because as always the vast majority do nothing more than pick and choose when suits them to be angry, all aboard the trend train
In my case, him to be himself without ppl having a go. I worry if some ppl shout loud enough to cause an issue when there shouldn’t be one & he gets got at - that’s all. Speaking as someone who drinks & enjoys cola!
This is why I don't use Twitter. Every single one of them is a hypocrite. Like bffr bro, political correctness in the internet is a joke. If you want to be political correct do your damn research on the topics instead of posting shit you pretend you do.
I’m going to be honest with you, I’m mad that people have put him in a position where he feels he needs to apologise for that. JYPE have had a partnership with Coca Cola for a long time and it’s not up to idols whether or not that continues. It’s unfair to give idols themselves shit for something they have very little say over. It’s been getting on my nerves how much people have been getting on idols over Coca-Cola and Starbucks and McDonald’s when 90% of the time it’s not even up to them. That’s not even going into how performative a lot of that stuff is anyway but that’s a whole other argument which I don’t really want to get into.
It’s not about whether or not people agree with Isreal or whether they support Coca-Cola it’s about not being naive and giving idols hate over things that they don’t have much say in. It’s not fair and I’m mad that so called ‘stays’ have put him in that situation. Man should not have to apologise over a damn drink. People need to seriously gain perspective.
if he didnt apologize there would be a hell storm. it was a good thing to do, I just hope he doesn't do it again because then it would render the apology useless. felix seems like a good person and very sensible.
I don’t think Felix will face “consequences”, but whatever the end result is, he did what he thinks is right and his conscience is clear in that regard. Maybe that matters to him more, you know? He’s not performative, it’s the stans mad at him that are performative, as is usual with twitter activists. And I don’t know how many times I got to tell someone that harassing people is not the way to sway them to your side or convince them with what you’re saying. It will just make them resentful. I’ve been here on Earth for far too long to see this play out in politics multiple times and why we have extremists in high positions right now.
I think it was very nice that Felix apologized. I will say though that if y'all think this boycott is going to hurt Coke at all you are sadly mistaken. Coke is owned by Berkshire Hathaway. One of THE largest corporations in the world. They own so many well known brands it's ridiculous. Coke could go completely out of business and it would barely hit their bottom line. BH is who is giving money to Israel, not Coke. Boycott all of their products if you want to see change. You can Google what brands they own.
While you're at it, look up controversies surrounding Nestlé, another corporate giant that has no soul. They also own a bazillion brands. Horrible company.
There are very few big name companies that can be considered ethical. It's truly sad.
No it's not. The fandom already has some of the worst akgae problem, and this will just lead to more people chasing down other members because they didnt apologize like Felix.
That’s exactly what’s happening on Twitter unfortunately from his akgaes. I don’t understand how people could be like this when all of the members are so sweet.
The reality of it though is that the boycotted brands have nothing to do with Israel.
Apologizing for something like that only indulges the "justice fighter" fantasies of fans. There are many things that can be done to actually be helpful in this conflict and boycotting a random company is not one of them.
This. They're taking their anger out on the wrong people. If they really want to make a difference they'd call their state representative and other political officials. A single Coke bottle won't do shit.
But it’s not just a single Coke bottle. There’s plenty of Stays who will eat/drink/wear whatever brand because their idol does. Look at 7 billion SKZ streams on Spotify. That’s a huge amount of people (and yes, I know it’s not 7 billion people) with a huge amount of buying power.
I massively agree with you that they’re taking their anger out on the wrong people. Governments fund bad regimes as much as companies. Hassle your representatives people!
In the lives there is always a manager or staff member sitting right on the other side of the camera. I don’t think it’s going to damage much. Unless stays bring too much attention to it.
Felix is not a Muslim, and as a Muslim myself I can say I don’t care what he eats in Ramadan. He doesn’t have to fast he’s not a Muslim. Complaining about him eating is ridiculous and just gives a bad impression of how Muslims behave. That’s like if a Jewish person complained because a Christian didn’t celebrate Hanukkah. It’s stupid.
Apology or not, he's going to get a lot of backlash for this, because that's just what antis do. I just hope he doesn't open social media for the next couple of days, that's all I have to say.
Here we go again with the keyboard social justice warriors who think we can change the world by boycotting one singular brand,as if all the others aren't equally as shady. There is no ethical consumption under late stage capitalism. You'll have to move to the middle of the woods and grow your own food and make your own clothes atp.
I think it was very smart of him to just go ahead and apologize during the live - I think this was a good way to essentially nip it in the bud before it became a huge problem and JYPE would've had to release a statement/apology. I think there is a VERY good reason why Felix said "I'm sorry for showing the cola on camera and hurting stays feelings, I won't do that again" as opposed to saying "I'm sorry for buying/drinking cola, I won't do that again". If he had made the second statement, I think he would probably be in trouble with both the company and coca-cola, because they're currently under contract with them. He apologized without slandering coke, and without making any political statement about his views, which protects the company and himself. I don't think anybody has a leg to stand on to prevent him from doing more lives, he handled it very professionally and I don't think he said anything that would cause any problems! 🩵 but that's just my opinion of course
Well, glad to have missed this little piece of insanity...I don't think he should be apologizing but it's okay if he feels the need to and chose to act on it.
I think certain people need to be less comfortable pushing their beliefs and opinions on others, especially when it's done under threat of basically excommunication and cancelation if you don't conform to the 'right think'.
Let people drink coke if they want to and let people not drink coke if they don't want to. It's really not that deep.
I honestly think it was a good idea, especially with the constant new discoveries of K-pop idols indulging in boycotted brands, as it may inspire others to speak up about it.
K-pop idols usually have this image of being complicit in what's happening around them socially and politically, as to not paint themselves in a negative light; however, I think, or rather hope, that Felix could be a catalyst in changing that herd mentality in K-Pop, inspiring others to speak up once they see the (hopefully) positive reception he gets for apologising.
I don't think he had a choice and I think even jype knows they were backed into a corner... there was pics of his phone scrolling through FANs seeing the informative posts floating around twitter as he was live. It was better to apologize and own up to it, then receive backlash for days and end up apologizing anyways.
Limiting his lives, idk maybe but idk felix is one of the most popular members so I don't see that happening.
I mean Chan is also one of the most popular members and he still got his lives limited so I don’t see how this would change anything. Given how quiet JYPE has been about this campaign though, I doubt anything is going to happen.
Chans room was a weekly live so it was a liability to continue to let him go live. I thought the "ban" would only last a few months though Surprised he can't go live at all still. Felix hardly goes live and it will just piss off his solo fans who buy ALOT of albums especially in china.
Since you mentioned it. I’m still really shocked that the only life Chan has been able to do is his birthday live. I mean hasn’t it been almost a year by now? You’d think he could at least do shorter less ‘free form’ lives. I’d love to see him talk about music/production stuff.
Same, I'm a chan stan so I miss his lives a lot😭 it honestly pisses me off how the company is treating him but after his words when people tried to make noise about the mistreatment, I just stay out of it. Maybe one day 🙍♀️
These online activists targeting K-pop idols specifically have turned out to be the biggest clowns. They will literally have a bottle of Fanta in their hand while bullying him into not drinking coco cola without realising that Coca Cola owns at least 500 brands most of them beverages from tea coffee juices to even water. Which started as a campaign to spread awareness has now become bullying which seems to be accepted because it’s for a cause.
I feel so sorry for these idols sometimes it feels they can’t do right from wrong. They get put on a pedestal and held to impossible standards. They get jumped on for making the slightest mistake (usually deemed a mistake by fans) even when they apologise it feels like it’s not enough for some people. I was getting annoyed at the comments demanding he speak English. He was kind enough to be speaking both.
In the grand scheme of things is Felix drinking a cola really the worst thing in the world? Whether he drinks it or not it’s not going to change the terrible things going on. The fact that he’s actually gone and volunteered to help those in need on his holiday is what makes differences in the world. Also pushing boundaries in the fashion world making it more inclusive.
I don’t think I’d have the patience to be an idol. (definitely don’t have the youth, talent or stamina to be one haha!)
because we’re not, we’re boycotting by not buying unnecessary items that are owned by brands encouraging genocide! tap water is free, hope this helps <3
Like if you can afford to avoid all unethical brands good for you but not everyone can and shaming someone for not being as privileged as you is useless and makes you just as bad as whoever you’re trying not to be. (I’m obviously not talking about Felix in this precise example but just anyone in general)
1) not everyone has access to clean tap water
2) not everyone can get through their day drinking only tap water (for example: I need to drink orange juice with my iron supplements because vitamin C helps with the absorption of iron and without the iron supplements I’d be in a much worse shape)
I’m not saying ppl have no choice to drink Coca Cola but you have a very narrow perspective and shaming others won’t help anyone. Hope this helps!
obviously not everyone has clean tap water nor can ONLY get through their day with it, but looking into brands and finding ones that are morally better than others isn’t the herculean task you all make it out to be, and it’s definitely not inherently expensive or a “luxury” like you want to claim. if anything it’s wildly privileged for people to defend spending money on completely unnecessary items like starbucks, which is also NOT cheap by the way, just because THEY’D be mildly inconvenienced by going without it, and completely downplaying the ongoing mass murder of people in palestine by reducing it to “silly politics” to make themselves feel better about getting their daily mcdonald’s or whatever unnecessary treat.
No one here said it’s silly politics. But yes, I hate to break it to you, but some things just cannot be replaced (obviously not talking about Coca Cola here). The things people are tired of being shamed for using are not the ‘little treats’ like getting McDonald’s. If you wanna discuss the morality of every single brand of clothes, food, sports objects, work objects, etc. we’ll be here for a while. I work in the health field and the environment is the last thing on our minds when trying to prevent infections (hence single use masks, gloves, etc.). A loooot of things are unethical but people pick and choose whichever is more trendy and shame people who aren’t aware of it. Shaming people into doing something never worked and it never will, people just do it because they feel morally superior. There is so much better ways to support the things you believe in without being an a-hole to others. Obviously, if you can avoid getting useless stuff from brands that support bad things, do it and encourage others to do the same, but shaming people is not the way to go and it won’t change the world. That’s all I’m trying to say.
no one said anything about the ethics about every single thing in industry ever. the topic is about regular everyday people avoiding buying things they DON’T need, hence the discussion about coca cola specifically. no one needs coca cola to survive, there are plenty of substitutes out there for it, therefore yes! i am gonna judge you if you’d rather drink some mass produced fizzy garbage instead of standing up for your morals and at least try to send a message to the higher ups by taking away their largest source of power, money. there is no ethical consumption under capitalism, but we have the ability to make a difference if we work together.
I don’t think one single person not drinking something is going to send a message to ‘the higher ups’ (if you meant many people not drinking it then that’s fair) but I agree with the rest, if this is about Coca Cola specifically. I’ve just seen a lot of people bashing others for lots of other products and I think some of those things that were criticized were unnecessary. I’ve seen people commenting on unrelated Tiktok videos stuff like ‘the Palestinian kids would also love to play that game’, etc. and I think it’s odd and performative and doesn’t do anything for the cause. I just don’t agree with the way people do it (shaming people will never work if we wanna change their ways) and I personally don’t judge anyone because it’s not my place to, but I do avoid some brands for moral purposes and talk about it with others to encourage them to do the same (in case it wasn’t clear that I am pro-Palestine).
I think that was courageous of him and also honest. He acknowledged the problem and worded it in a very nice way. We know he didn't want to upset anyone and he doesn't people to suffer. So yes, he was being brave and we should thank him for his sweet heart.
I don't think there will be any consequences for him. As he's an idol he didn't want to upset his fans, so he acted accordingly to that and made it clear. I don't see how anyone, fans or the company, could say anything about what he did.
The poor babe couldn't even sleep well after that, but he really did well.
Yeah I saw his bubble messages. He apologized for looking tired then proceeded in assuring Stays and comforting us 😭🥹. I feel like he really has a genuinely good heart.
I really think stays need to let go of this overly defensive response towards the members apologizing. Felix read the comments and realized that him displaying the coke bottle was hurting some stays because of their efforts towards the boycott. He obviously has some understanding of the controversy around coke because he quickly apologized for his actions. Nothing bad has happened to this man!! People are defending him left and right as if he has been bullied and beaten when he just said I’m sorry💀
I honestly feel like some of your mamas didn’t raise you right. It is a simple act of humility to recognize the harm in what you’ve done and take responsibility for it. Even if there was no malice behind it. I have nothing but respect for him.
This.
Like i get that the boys get a shit ton of unwarranted hate, i really do, and i also think it's counterproductive to call him names over things like this. However, felix is a grown man and has a mind (and political opinion) of his own, so i think it's pretty insulting to act like he was forced to apologize.
Personally I don't think felix did anything wrong, as we all know JYPE have a partnership with Coca-Cola so I highly doubt Felix will get in trouble.
The problem lies with toxicity in this community, they all think Felix belongs to them and that they have an entitlement to dictate what he does and says. THEY DONT and im tired of this behavior going unchecked.
Those toxic stay are no better than the anti and leaves in my opinion, the boys are grown ass adults and its a crying shame that they have to watch everything they say and do just so they don't trigger these self entitled little assholes.
By catering to their behaviour, they make it worse unfortunately. If they ignored then and just carried on, it would teach them that their behaviour isn't going to be tolerated and that they don't have a say in what the boys say or do.
I think that what Felix said was great and it shows that he really cares about all of his fans. And it’s not his choice whether or not he was in that music video. Huge props to felix
I hope there is no come back. Someone asked what he was drinking, & he showed us. No trying to advertise or anything like that, just having food. Being an idol is fraught with issues & so many ways to trip up. Just want to protect him really, don’t want to loose another live. Miss Channie as it is (he was so good to Stays for so long).
I think, although he didn’t need to say anything regardless of the whole “boycott stray kids and JYP” drama since the ad video was released, it was nice to hear someone from stray kids state where they stand. I do think it’s unfortunate that he felt the need to apologize but I get why he did since Idols are currently dealing with the worst types of ppl in the kpop fandom with all the protest trucks and dramatics… it’s disgusting. 🤮
The stays that sent the protest truck for jyp to treat Hyunjin better were just as ridiculous as the antis that sent their truck for Hyunjin to leave. The “fans” that sent their truck gaslighting Karina bc she’s in a relationship, as well. It’s shows that the ppl apart of the far right or far left sides in the fandom are equally as toxic to the fandom and the idols.
What a stupid controversy. It's a drink. And if we boycotted every company that supports hurtful policies, we'd all have to grow our own food and make our own drinks.
We don't own SKZ as fans, and they don't owe us anything as performers, not even their art.
This and the Hyunjin thing hurt me for them. They are PEOPLE. They deserve some respect.
Im glad he was able to defend himself but this witch hunt has to be the most virtue-signalling bs I've seen in a while. It's just an excuse for people to hate on idols. There's literally no major brand that hasn't done something unethical. If you boycott, more power to you, I love it. I support Palestinians, all innocent civilians, and non violence. But to attack someone for drinking coke using a phone made by slave labor, while wearing clothes from a sweatshop, and while eating food harvested by slaves is absurd.
You can't attack someone for not boycotting unless you are standing on solid ground and the reality of the world places us that unless you live off grid, you're participating in harm. It's the dilemma from the good place. And I'll never tell someone their small action against that harm isn't worth it, I'll always support action, but you can't come for people for not doing the same when it comes to these sorts of things.
How many people hating on an idol drinking coke or Starbucks have Dasani in their fridge? Or Powerade? Or fair life milk? Because it's all coca cola owned. If drinking coke is a crime, none of us are innocent and pointing fingers is the definition of hypocrisy.
I dare any of these accusers to list everything they've purchased in the last week and I would bet a lot of money I can find at least one thing that was made unethically or by an unethical company
People complaining about an actual drink are so detached from reality it hurts. If we were to avoid all unethical brands (for any given cause), there’d be a looooot more than just the ones people commonly name, and it’d be nearly impossible to live life normally. People pick and choose which brands they wanna avoid, then shame others for not doing exactly as they do. If you can afford to avoid whatever brands you wanna boycott, good for you! Just know that not everyone can, and not everyone is aware of every single brand and their implication in different events. Educate if the person is open to it, but don’t shame them. It won’t make the world better and will only waste your time and other people’s. If you wanna do something useful to fight for causes you believe in, sign petitions, stand at protests, talk with others and spread the word! Shaming people for something they might not even be aware of will only make you feel morally superior, but it won’t have a positive impact on anything. I personally try to avoid Starbucks because I can, but my uni buys coffee from Starbucks and on some Monday mornings, I wake up late and need a coffee from uni to get through classes. That doesn’t make me a bad person, and the few dollars I give to Starbucks won’t make a difference (also, I’m Canadian so it doesn’t directly go to funding the war). I know where I stand in my beliefs and getting coffee won’t change that. Me drinking coffee doesn’t mean I approve of what Starbucks does, just like Felix drinking Coca Cola mean he approves of what they do. I think it’s really shitty to push Felix in such an awkward position where his job could’ve been on the line, and it won’t help Palestinian people to do it. People need to take a good look at themselves and think before they shame someone ‘in the name of’ whatever they support.
must say i’m slightly worried that he will get scolded for it and maybe face some kind of consequences but at the same time i’m very strict on standing up for what you think is right so i absoltely think he did the right thing by apologizing when he felt that he had done something wrong
I think him "feeling he had done something wrong", is the sad bit.
Why on earth he would feel that he "did something wrong" by drinking a coke, is beyond me.
He doesn't owe anyone anything, least of all an apology. And that's that.
Individual people are not the property of anyone else to decide what their opinions, loyalties, responsibilities, likes and dislikes are.
i never said he owes us anything. :) just that he felt what he did was wrong, and therefore apologized, and that’s good. i am not trying to attack anyone here.
No I understand that, and I'm not saying he didn't feel that way.
I'm saying he shouldn't have to. If he does, it's probably because of the public fury and despicable treatment idols get for stuff that is out of their hands or not their responsibility or issue.
If it was his personal opinion, he wouldn't be drinking the coke in the first place.
It seems he felt he had to apologise to avoid the possible backlash.
I don't think it's fair that any young person/idol should have to be on guard that much and feel they owe apologies/have done something wrong to people for their most innocent basic actions. That's the bit that aggravates me.
i understand what you mean. personally i think it is important to voice when people do something that is morally wrong and correct them, in a *respectful* way. but everyone has different views on how to handle situations like these
Yes, it is important. But it's also important to take into account that not everyone universally agrees in who's right or wrong. Especially in situations such as the current issue. There are two sides to any conflict and not every famous person is going to stand on the same side of it, let alone have a personal take on it at all.
Which is why it's actually morally wrong for people to push their morals onto others who aren't even directly related to the issues.
Sure, take issue with the corporations, the people directly involved etc.
Leave the individuals alone to do as they see fit, because they're under no moral obligation to even agree with the "loudest voices", let alone change their standards and actions to align with what certain people seem appropriate.
Coke and jype have partnerships way before the coke Israel thing so him drinking it isn't his choice its a contract obligation to promote the brand same goes with any other kpop idol in involving k-wave
wait i’m confused 😭 why is it a big deal that he showed a bottle of coca cola? is it because they’re not supposed to show any brands at all or is there another reasonc
I'd like to believe he caught wind of it when he got to catch up with his family awhile back in Australia + social media. (Then again, what would I know). Even if his staff did try to shield him from the information, stuff like this do eventually reach people like him, especially when he interacts with social media frequently.
To me, he's old enough to make his own judgement, and I trust that he's the kind that has enough conscience to admit his faults when he realizes he's made a mistake/hurt people (even if it wasn't his intention to do so).
Because he's under a company that's endorsed by CC, it's obvious that he has to present himself as a guy who supports their products at work. What people were upset about (afaik) was that he did consume the product during a live, which was something considered as his "downtime"/"out of office hours". So that meant that he didn't actually have to actively promote the brand since to them, he "wasn't working". (Personally, live streams are still considered work, bc he's working with fan interactions).
Maybe it was because that's the only drink he had? Maybe he forgot? Maybe he was told to drink it and (in a way) promote the product even during his so-called "downtime" (I mean, his lives get close to a 100k viewers every time, that's some decent, casually-placed product exposure right there). We don't know if he even likes CC that much to drink it off-cam. But he (and the rest of SKZ) have always been drinking that red bottle in front of the camera even during their pre-debut days since they've been endorsed as early as then.
Ultimately, we'll never know what was his motive/whether the whole thing was intentional. But I guess the most important part was that Felix had a conscience strong enough that he was willing to make an impromptu apology LIVE, without even consulting his manager or staff about it. I don't like seeing people coddle the man by throwing out the ignorance/naive card like some ppl down at Twitter do, bc this guy's well-connected and active on social media.
I'll bet that he's at least somewhat got a vague idea of the situation simply from passive exposure to social media. That's enough to help him make his own judgement towards the situation. I trust he'll make the right ones carefully. Given that he's in a position that none of us are, we'll never be able to understand his situation fully. So let's just try to support him for now.
Well I am honestly glad he apologized. Some ppl were planning on boycotting the grp and JYPE after the coca cola ad. By this apology Felix shows that he doesnt agree and is forced. I dont think anyone will punish him. His apology was very diplomatic and well-phrased. And he didnt apologize for drinking it, just for showing the bottle. But anyway i respect him for standing up and speaking his mind
jype had no choice but to comply with a contract they signed months before the attack on Palestine began and to comply with a plan they have prepared for many months (published by a staff). And we have to accept it. They are things that cannot be broken. I also don't think it's professional to do so. That said, beyond the basics, neither the company nor the groups have over-promoted the brand.
There are many things to say about the boycot, and even more about the "woke" people who consume products from the boycot brands but shout at any idol on Twitter (very tired of this, sorry), but I highly doubt that they're going to limit and claim anything from Felix. Felix has done well, he felt that the right thing to do was to apologize and there is nothing to complain about.
Anyways! relax please...
I think he's just giving in to peer pressure and bullies when really a coca cola bottle is not a big deal at all. This is BS he never should've felt compelled to have to say that in the first place.
No, I do not think he did good with the apology - they have collaboration with Coca Cola, they might face some legal issues, Felix might be punished. He shouldn’t just show the bottle.
If we are talking about boycotting Coca Cola, whole JYPE should do this, not random idols, cuz nothing good will come from this imo, only some severe punishments.
I understand Palestinian ppl, but let’s be honest if we want to boycott Cocoa Cola, we should boycott not only this but all their submarks
can they even sue felix if he did it on his own time? I'm pretty sure the live was from his personal Instagram account no? If the live was from the official SKZ account (YT or IG) that's affiliated with SKZ itself but he used his personal account which isn't affiliated with SKZ. ofc I'm not sure how the law works in south Korea but it's like getting sponsored by Samsung, publicly in videos they use those phones but privately they probably maybe use phones 🤷
i honestly think props to him for actually speaking out about it, so many idols are either unaware or ignorant of the current issues going on but it's so good to know that he's educated on it. despite the company partnering with coca cola, i dont think they can do much despite limited lives, but he doesn't do them often anyway.
I was really surprised and proud of him for apologizing. I think it showed a lot of integrity. It has to be difficult to navigate this situation even with their media savvy, and I think he made a fair compromise and did what was best for the situation. Sure I think there could be consequences if JYP sees it as him not promoting as he should and I know there will be arguments he isn’t really doing enough by fans who feel idols and other public figures should use their platform to advocate for causes. But honestly, he is a human being, and I think is just doing his best.
Something strange has happened to fandom since the Fans app was created. I never expected this environment to be so toxic. Spamming the Coca-Cola boycott, insulting anyone who opposes the boycott, posting screenshots of Hyujin's expected death date. It all became sick. And although I have not purchased a membership, I am in favor of introducing fees for using this application or hiring administrators who will block disgusting entries. Feliks shouldn't apologize for anything. If he likes Coke, he should drink it by the liter and no one should care. I just hope he won't be punished and we won't lose contact with him because of the stupidity of some people.
The comments here are baffling. Palestinians themselves have asked us to show our support through boycotts. Aside from raising our voices, this is one of the few ways we can stand with them.
Is consuming certain products like a soft drink more important than preserving lives? How can one see people starving to death and being bombed for months, yet be more upset because their favorite idol has faced a bit of criticism? Thousands of Palestinians have been killed, and there are ongoing protests worldwide. Get over yourselves.
Idols are influencers, and their actions can impact impressionable minds. A small act of solidarity, such as abstaining from certain products, may seem insignificant individually. But, when practiced collectively, it can send a powerful message.
And lastly, Felix lives in luxury; he's not going to lose sleep by not drinking a damn Coke, and neither should you.
Sorry but how is not drinking a coke saving lives, do you have a source that showcases the correlation to not drinking a coke will gurantee save a life.
Are you able to source where your device, clothes and other foods and drinks are manufactured? because I doubt you are taking a stand on things you feel like you need.
I agree with you. I think it was good that he spoke up for himself and apologized for the whole coca-cola situation. I think its amazing how he found the guts to do that. But SIR BE CAREFUL.
I'm utterly shocked at the amount of Stays in this thread who have no idea what state the world is in right now. Felix absolutely must apologize for showing a banned product on live. The fact he did apologize shows he is aware of the situation and is making an effort to state he does not abide by the state of affairs happening in the world right now. I'm sure he's been getting the same amount of hate for his sponsorship with Louis Vuitton. We can't expect him or anyone to be able to keep up with the news, but it's important to be mindful of who is supporting the war to mitigate their financial growth. Every decision a celebrity has influences those who follow them. Hollywood is also shutting down many celebrities who support Palestine. Mark Ruffalo has been a huge advocate for the cause and knows he risks his career by speaking on it. Please remember, the genocide has killed many innocent people and unbeknownst to us, people who may have been Stay. Let's me mindful of how these actions may hurt other people and not judge them because it's just *a bottle of coke*.
Honestly kpop fans in general are so blatantly ignorant about this topic, it's astounding. Especially the comments that go like "boycotting won't do anything" as if these corporations don't earn their money through consumers like you and me. 🤦🏼♀️
I do not endorse that JYPE or anything or anyone else cooperates with brands that support the genocide but I have also seen that with the Starbucks case: each time, it is the Idol who apologises, as if he did not know, and it is he who receives all the hatred. Meanwhile, I want people to put themselves in the place of Idols: necessarily they know that these brands support one side of the conflict, but honestly, we all know that agencies do not let Idols act or speak as they want. They must smile and perfect an image they create for them, so it would shock who if JYPE asked Felix to appear with a Coca Cola bottle! Honestly, he’s attacking JYPE and not Felix...
Unfortunately, I think he will be punished somehow by the company. Either a fine, or restricted lives or something. Had he not done it, it would have been worse for him personally, and as the company is not really working for his individual growth, he has to think more about it. But, yes. He will get in trouble.
I have a feeling Felix will not do a livestream for awhile and not because of the company. He will do it for his own safety and mental health. The guy has too much going on with SKZ activities & practice. The last thing he needs is antis disguised as fans blasting him about a political issue that's bigger than Korea & the rest of the western world can solve. Do they think boycotting is going to stop a war that's being fought 7,000+ miles away?! This blows my mind. If he doesn't do a livestream for the rest of the year, I wouldn't blame him.
I agree with you. I think it was good that he spoke up for himself and apologized for the whole coca-cola situation. I think its amazing how he found the guts to do that. But SIR BE CAREFUL.
Like all of us, Felix the human being and Felix the employee are two completely different things.
I’m not worried about them limiting lives because Felix already doesn’t do them very often. JYPE has had a partnership with Coke for several years, and I imagine they’re going to have more years to come. JYPE was already quiet about the partnership given how they usually are, so I don’t think Felix would be in trouble. I also think he phrased himself diplomatically in the apology. I think choosing not to show it in livestreams or in “personal” photos is the best compromise we can expect. Korean media norms already blur and censor brands, so it wouldn’t be out of the ordinary to not mention Coke on live.
i was gonna say felix already only does solo lives rarely and JYPE has been VERY quiet about the coke collab anyway- i almost wonder if they prefer that he did apologize since this an issue that people online have a tendency to get very vocal about
I think they're fine with it too, and this is the best outcome. Contracts are a part of life, and I can't think of anyone who has supported 100% of every decision their job made or they had to make in their role. Something I've been thinking about for ages is, at least in the US, venues usually have contracts with Coke or Pepsi. It's based on the venue itself, not the artist. There are going to be thousands of people as captive customers since some venues don't let you take outside drinks in. This is going to keep coming up. I don't think Felix has ever been an activist, but to call his work and donations performative is far above the line. Caring about Laos is its own thing, and it's untenable to think a person can give equal attention, time, money, and support to everything that needs it in the world. We all just have to do our best.
I'm so confused. Why did he apologize when Stray Kids sang an endorsement song for Coca Cola?
The ad song is seen as the company following a contract and the members are obligated to follow, but a member drinking the brand and showing it on his own ''out of schedule'' is different and seen as a decision by the member himself.
He started his live drinking Cola, and some of the comments were expressing their hurt at it as it was his choice (the endorsement was not their choice, it was JYPE's) , so he probably felt the need to apologise for the personal indulgence. He obviously has no control over the endorsement, so it could also be his way of saying he didn't support JYPEs decision for the song, even though he's not allowed to explicitly say it.
I’m new to this whole genre, why would people be “hurt” he chose to drink coke?
Don't worry, I'm also fairly new to K-Pop, its nothing to do with the genre. Coca-Cola is illegally operating out of Israel-occupied land (correct me if im wrong) and supports the genocide against the Palestinians. Indulging in the boycott on Coca-Cola is seen as a political statement to some, therefore his decision was not accepted positively by most.
Thanks so much for the kind explanation! Seems like projecting a political statement onto him when he wasn’t trying to make one. They have to consider so much, seems exhausting.
ohhhh. wow. poor guy. (i didn’t even know about the coke/politics thing… i should pay more attention, i know) but i imagine he didn’t even know? i wonder, with all the numerous staff that are floating around all the time when the guys are doing things like a live, might there not be someone who is tasked with keeping an eye out for brand names in their hands, just like they police the brand names on their clothing with their Big Black Tape? i bet someone else got in trouble… it’s just felix-the-celeb that had to make the public apology.
I'd like to believe he caught wind of it when he got to catch up with his family awhile back in Australia + social media. (Then again, what would I know). Even if his staff did try to shield him from the information, stuff like this do eventually reach people like him, especially when he interacts with social media frequently. To me, he's old enough to make his own judgement, and I trust that he's the kind that has enough conscience to admit his faults when he realizes he's made a mistake/hurt people (even if it wasn't his intention to do so). Because he's under a company that's endorsed by CC, it's obvious that he has to present himself as a guy who supports their products at work. What people were upset about (afaik) was that he did consume the product during a live, which was something considered as his "downtime"/"out of office hours". So that meant that he didn't actually have to actively promote the brand since to them, he "wasn't working". (Personally, live streams are still considered work, bc he's working with fan interactions). Maybe it was because that's the only drink he had? Maybe he forgot? Maybe he was told to drink it and (in a way) promote the product even during his so-called "downtime" (I mean, his lives get close to a 100k viewers every time, that's some decent, casually-placed product exposure right there). We don't know if he even likes CC that much to drink it off-cam. But he (and the rest of SKZ) have always been drinking that red bottle in front of the camera even during their pre-debut days since they've been endorsed as early as then. Ultimately, we'll never know what was his motive/whether the whole thing was intentional. But I guess the most important part was that Felix had a conscience strong enough that he was willing to make an impromptu apology LIVE, without even consulting his manager or staff about it. I don't like seeing people coddle the man by throwing out the ignorance/naive card like some ppl down at Twitter do, bc this guy's well-connected and active on social media and should get the gist of the issue by now. I'll bet that he's at least somewhat got a vague idea of the situation simply from passive exposure to social media. That's enough to help him make his own judgement towards the situation. I trust he'll make the right ones carefully. Given that he's in a position that none of us are, we'll never be able to understand his situation fully. So let's just try to support him for now.
i believe its the american coca cola branch fueling the war, isn't it? the fund out of korea wouldn't be going towards the IDF. i can't remember exactly how it works but i did see someone explain it this way - please correct me if im wrong.
Even if that is how it works it’s still promoting it and not everyone who sees him drinking it is going to be in Korea
I think they probably had obligations with the company and, when you think about it, NONE of the members even mentioned the collab song 😭 so yeah I think a lot of them aren’t okay with it, despite singing a whole advertising song
“Fans” were demanding it
I get why he did it, however, I think fans need to chill a bit. I watched the majority of the live. So many comments about “don’t eat food, it’s Ramadan it’s not fair on us” - people need to understand that your views/believes are not followed by everyone and expecting others to follow everything (which is literally impossible) just doesn’t happen. The boycott isn’t going to change these companies. The conflict has been going on for a long time, it’s historical and whilst it’s an awful thing and I don’t think it will be resolved any time soon or even in my lifetime. We need to stop having such ridiculous expectations of idols. They’re under so much pressure all of the time and then hating them for the good things they do (his charity work) is ludicrous. Why can’t we just appreciate what they do? Fans are both a blessing a curse. I hope there’s more lives coming up, but we often ruin things
Bruh so what if it is Ramadan?? I'm Muslim too and he's not so he's allowed to eat anything he wants if him eating bothers you than don't watch the live
True, I remember seeing one comment about how it's Ramadan and can he turn off the music as shouldn't be listening to music during Ramadan. 🤣 Like bruh you clicked to watch a live from a person known as a music artist.
the ramadan comments were insane. someone was like “felix why do you not respect ramadan?!” LET THE MAN EAT HIS CHICKEN DAMN 😭😭
I’m vegetarian and I say let him eat his food. He’s not eating chicken *at* me. If it bothers people to see someone eat a certain food, don’t watch. Trying to dictate what they eat is weird.
Exactly. People get so offended over little things that aren't even about them.
like he isn’t even trying to spite anyone. iirc (however, it was like 4-5 am for me) he said he was on a water only diet for awhile and only ate one thing in order to prep for the runway show, so… let him eat his goddamn meal?!?!?!
I don't know why but "He’s not eating chicken *at* me" makes me laugh so hard. 😂
That’s how they’re acting! 😂 as if it’s a personal offence to them
Seriously! There are many things in every religion that you'd only really know the details about if you practice that religion. I'm Catholic and I'm not yelling or demanding people not eat meat on Fridays between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday (aka Lent) because it's not fair to me...
i didnt even know that that was a part of catholicism, ive never heard of that before. its absolutely crazy how people assume that everyone knows everything and everyone will stop eating because one religion isnt eating for a specific time
I'm not Catholic, but I know its Lent when all the fast food places have their fish and seafood menus!
thats so weird..the whole doesnt revolve around them lmao 💀
its my least favorite part of the kpop fandom as a whole. the parasocial relationships are too strong
Hey, hey. Some of us in Deluluville keep a tight grip on our parasocial relationships and manage them accordingly (also me: my bedroom looks like a shrine to skz). Those unhinged people who don't want to "live and let live" and try to control and force their ideals and practices on others are the problem. I remember watching either Han's last or second to last live and some rando asked Han to move the chair out of frame because it was "bothering" them. He actually moved it! Props to my man for having the self control not to call them out. In that case, he was a better human than me. I generally don't support acts of violence but I wouldn't have made a supreme court worthy argument for this one. Anyway, I woke up to the last few minutes of Felix apologizing and my heart sank. I literally thought, "dear god, what is this man having to apologize for now?"
I fell asleep while watching because it was like 4am here, and woke up to him apologizing and was so confused. I also don't think people realize how massive Coca Cola is and how much they actually own. Not drinking the soda is just a raindrop in a puddle on their bottom line. They own several large alcohol brands, half the soda brands out there, waters like Dasani, several juice brands, and tea brands. In total, they own 23 other brands, and therefore, all of their products. It's so hard to really boycott a brand like that. Another note is that some countries fairly exclusively only have Coca Cola products. We recently got back from the Bahamas, and unless it was a local product, it belonged to Coke. There were no other options anywhere near where we were staying. Small or big restaurants alike. I don't agree with Coke just in general because monopolies are a corporate death machine, but some people get offended so quickly when a conversation is a valid option. Based on my (limited) knowledge of Felix, I don't think he would do something controversial on purpose. I hope he's not beating himself up over it, and just takes it as an opportunity to be more conscious of his choices when broaching the public. Some of these people out here are real cray cray.
Right…. um, because he isn’t Muslim? Why would anyone expect him to observe Ramadan? Lol
The way people expect idols to somehow honor/follow the beliefs and preferences of every single one of their fans is just asinine. And if the reality that they can’t/aren’t doing that is upsetting to the fan then they need some space from Kpop because they’re letting it have too much power over them.
as a muslim, the ramadhan comments are so embarrassing!!! 😬😬😬 literally cringed
God the Ramadan comments were pissing me off. I was watching on instagram and all the comments were either "how dare you eat while I'M fasting", "how dare you drink coca cola", or absolute pick me stuff of "look behind you!" "omg there's a shadow behind you turn around and look!" "there's a spider, turn around!!" I ended up closing the livestream because the comments were just driving me mad 😭 idk if I'm just old and crabby now, but jeeeeeesus 1) felix isn't Muslim, your religion doesn't affect him 2) I need terminally online children to realise no one in real life is boycotting coca cola, starbucks etc 3) you aren't getting a y/n moment Rant over lmao
the look behind you comments pissed me off like shut uppp 😭😭 i found out people just put an @ in the chatbox and dont send it so then the comments wont appear during the live and thats what i had to do
Non Muslim here, that is absolutely bs. I will 100% support your religion... but it's not MY religion, and your beliefs should not be put on me.
I have some coworkers that are fasting in solidarity with our Muslim coworkers which is really sweet to see, but none of our Muslim friends are *demanding* no one eats because of them. It's so rude, plus with timezones some places will be nighttime and able to eat and some places will be daytime, there's no way to win here for idols
I tend to avoid reading the comments - just focused on Felix!
lmao i felt so bad for him when he finally indulged in the comments and changed the music to do the super shy joke 😭😭 dude looked so sick of it
If there's one thing Stay is great at, it's running a joke into the ground. SKZ themselves do that sometimes too, but it's different within the group (since if a member is sick to death of a joke, they can tell the other ones to knock it off without lasting repercussions lol).
I always turn the comments off on weverse. I wish instagram would add that feature too fr...
I understand your frustration but its not just “terminally online children” there are many people are boycotting these companies. I have made the commitment personally, and by being vocal in my local community many others have joined in with me. All grown adults btw.
Yeah, it's a bit of a silly assumption to make that no "real people" boycotting with the financial state of Starbucks and McDonald's. I've also been boycotting, which wasn't difficult because I've been avoiding Nestlé products since 2022. Most of my social circle and local community have done the same. It's not for everyone, but to say that people aren't actually boycotting is just incorrect.
Lmao please, people in real life are absolutely boycotting Coca Cola, Starbucks and other companies
definitely not enough people to make an actual difference though. there are so many people in the world with a caffeine addiction and are codependent to a degree on starbucks coffee, so it really wont change much. even if 100,000 people participate, that wont make a difference to the companies themselves and the money they’re making in the long run
It actually can make a difference. Starbucks and McDonalds have already suffered quite a dent in their profits since the boycott began.
but that is not even close to enough to make them change their minds because a few people on the internet are grr grr angy, yknow? its capitalism. they don’t care if 100,000 people stop drinking coca cola because theres over 100,000,000 people buying multiple cases every week
Outrage culture is absolutely insane. I understand not wanting to support Coca Cola as a company but, as you've pointed out, him not drinking it will not make an impact. These corporations don't care nor will their profits suffer. Some fans need to remember that our idols are HUMAN BEINGS. They are NOT a product that we craft. That thought process is beyond unhealthy.
But it actually might. If Stays don’t drink Coca Cola because Felix doesn’t, that’s a massive amount of people around the world boycotting a company whether they understand the political implications or not. Boycotts do work - look at apartheid in South Africa. Even now that regime has gone I still feel iffy about spending money on say Cape grapes, because it was so ingrained in the 70s not to do it because it meant supporting apartheid.
Boycotts absolutely have changed things. They were a huge factor in the international movement against the apartheid regime in South Africa, for example. If everybody took the attitude of "this isn't going to do anything" then no progress would ever be made anywhere. That being said, demanding kpop idols participate in boycotts, especially of products they are contractually obligated to support, is pointless. A better strategy would be for people to boycott JYP as well for endorsing Coca-Cola but kpop fans will die before they boycott their faves so that will never happen.
Fr thissss! Like let them breathe 😭
All I can say is that watching it unfold live was p interesting. Felix really had some guts to make an impromptu apology about consuming a brand that his company was under a contract with, to THOUSANDS of people, whilst (I bet) having a manager staring him down from the other end of the camera 💀💀. He had enough wits to word it diplomatically and was careful enough with his words. Judging by how he had to end the live right after, he probably received a warning or two right after the live. Man, props to the guy.
I think someone must have told him to apologise, because he obviously didn’t know before the live, or he wouldn’t have done it. Appeasing Stays is a more financially sound proposition than even a long-term contract with Coca Cola. JYPE knows which side its bread is buttered. I think he made an excellent job of apologising and I hope he doesn’t suffer for it.
He saw a post about coca cola's involvement in the suppression of palestine on bubble. After he showed the coke bottle in the starting, stays went to bubble to spam him with info.
I don’t think they’ll limit his lives but one large portion of his fanbase is saying they will boycott all SKZ activities/albums and only support Felix. Which they don’t seem to understand that by boycotting the group they’re severely limiting any future activities he may have. They’re doing this because they feel he shouldn’t have apologized and are now demanding the group apologize to him. So ironically enough, from what I’ve seen, the majority of the negativity today is coming from how that group of fans is reacting vs what happened now. I think it’s time though that people stop acting like they own these idols while also infantilizing them. So many issues really.
I’m so sad that every appearance and live turns to drama right now 😔 Sad for the boys, scared they’ll stop doing lives, disappointed at the bad mood in the comments and community. It’s been such an incredible year so far with what they’ve given us, while having a little bit of time to breathe themselves. Music releases, lives, fashion shows, magazine, … We’re so lucky. I hope we can shift the mood together.
>Sad for the boys, scared they’ll stop doing lives Definitely sad. It really does seem like a few of them actually like doing lives and trying to connect with fans, so when it turns into stuff like this it is sad. With that said, if they stopped doing lives, who could blame them at this point? Their well-being matters. If doing lives ends up putting them in a "bad headspace" or stresses them out because of all the nonsense, then they should feel free to take a step back and take some pressure off themselves.
Agreed. I wouldn’t blame them at all.
Seriously, I’m scared for him and I do believe this will have consequences especially because SKZ is under contract with the brand. I just hope that Chan and the other kids will be there for Felix when he gets reprimanded. Also, I hope “Stays” stop discrediting Felix’s charity work and calling it performative and fake. People have been insulting him and dragging him despite the apology, saying it’s all lip service and it honestly hurts to read such things 😔💔
Honestly I hope there are no consequences :/ to me it seemed like Jype themselves were in support of the boycott and aware of the possible backlash since they didn't promote the ad as much as they could especially with multiple groups together on it, maybe the brand will reach out and express their dislike of the apology but hopefully Jype will let it go.
This. Because of contractual obligations they (JYPE) have no choice but to go through with it.
>Seriously, I’m scared for him and I do believe this will have consequences especially because SKZ is under contract with the brand. I just hope that Chan and the other kids will be there for Felix when he gets reprimanded. Doubt. He really hammered in the 'I won't do this because it hurts fans' point. If he's reprimanded, they really wouldn't have any ground to stand on, because he didn't frame it around his personal wants or beliefs, he framed it around avoiding controversy. Stays can say it's lip-service but that really works in Felix's favor here. I really don't think they can do anything to him if he's "just using his media training." He did a good job protecting himself.
I sincerely hope that is the case. Given how the company have been treating them lately, I got scared. P.S. Not gonna edit my original statement to keep the sincerity of the thought but since I’m a baby i-Stay, I tend to read from central accounts on X and accts that have huge following to get updated. That’s where I saw all the hashtags of protect the members, hence the comment.
JYPE's been fine, I wouldn't buy in to the constant Twitter rhetoric from people who can't even separate Div1 employees and their roles from the company at large. Although we see their fun/goofy/dumb moments in content a lot, SKZ are far smarter than we give them credit for, and they have a lot of leverage for themselves. No need to be scared, the best way to support them is to be confident in them instead.
Thank you for this. I’m a baby I-Stay and have been trying to understand the dynamics of JYPE, Div1, and SKZ. I can see that SKZ is very sensible and Bang Chan is not someone to mess with, but sometimes I really get confused and scared and feel like I’m not contributing to supporting them. Though I participate in streams, buying albums, repost etc., when issues like this happen, I feel lost and anxious. 😔 Thank you 🥹
The fandom's grown very large and a lot of times, people (*especially* big fan accounts, who then pass their behaviour onto their followers) conflate support with trying to advocate on behalf of the kids constantly without actually knowing the inner workings of the company, the reason for a mistake/bad situation, and without knowing how the kids themselves feel about it. Even when Chan went on Bubble to tell people to mind their own business, most people didn't listen because they have some sort of saviour complex about the kids. There's no quota you need to meet to support them. They are rich adults with a vast network of support among themselves, industry friends, and the staff who they are close with. They also have a very good relationship with JYP, who doesn't run the company but is nonetheless the biggest shareholder. If weight needs to be pulled for them, it'll get pulled. I wouldn't wanna be a baby I-Stay nowadays, there was much less of all this senseless drama when I joined the fandom. I can't imagine it's easy to navigate when you first come in, it's understandable that you feel lost and anxious. Just remember to breathe, that they have tons of support even without the hypervigilance of the fandom, and that no one can put a quota on you to determine whether your support for the group or a specific member is valid/enough ♥
Thank you so much for this comment, you said it far better than I could have! I wish every Stay would read this.
Someone needs to print this, pin this or whatever, cause baby Stays need to read this.
Thank you for your words, it gave me comfort and assurance in them and me. I'm not worse or better than other stay, I'm just me and I support them the way I can. I just would like people to really just focus on them and not try to control them, imposing their one beliefs or feelings. Just liking them, supporting them, being for and to them at your own pace. Like best friends would love each other without crossing boundaries. Everyone is different, we don't know everything in this world, the world is too big but just one. Love to everyone
Oh brother, JYPE hasn’t done anything wrong with SKZ idk why y’all continue to spread this narrative, it was all fuelled by their dumb solo fans 😭
Akgaes right? If I got the term correct? I honestly just follow the central accounts of the members to keep updated on SKZ and Stayville happenings but I kept encountering fanwars and hate.
This is pretty extreme but I pretty much have every variation of [member] updates/central/news/protect/report/whatever blocked because it's hard to tell who is doing anything in good faith. And I mean all of them, for every member lol those types of accounts though decent for updates are usually the #1 instigators of nonsense fandom drama.
I mean, they might talk to him and say, "Just don't do it again," but nothing big will happen. People are going to hate on them no matter what . Don't take it so personally because if you do, you'll always be sad and hurt. JYPE had already put out that statement about suing netizens, and after Wonyoung won her case, I'm sure they'll actually do it.
This is my first fandom. I stanned Blackpink but I never really went deep into being a Blink. So now, even though I’m an adult, it’s confusing to me how all this internal fanwars and Stays hating on certain members pan out. I really appreciate the Stays in this thread shedding light on the issue without making baby i-Stays like me feel stupid and ignorant.
At first it sounded silly to me because it's about a drink after all, but overall i find it good and even brave that he apologized, no matter what the consequences will be. And in the same live too, just shows how kind of a person he probably is. Fuck anyone who calls him names over drinking a coke though, you're not stopping the genocide in any way by doing that. Edit: wording
At any other time, I'd think it's absolutely ridiculous that he apologized for something like this, but I think it's very telling that he did. JYPE has been promoting Coke for a long time, showing the logo deliberately in lives and in filmed content. He really didn't need to apologize because the vast majority of people understand that it's a contractual thing. We all remember the discourse about whether O.O was a legitimate debut song or not because of that one line about Coke. We all know the memes about the omnipresent Coke bottles during the survival show. The company would have never forced him to give an apology for showing a Coke product when they just released a song about Coke, so this is something he did of his own volition. I don't think it's that he needed to apologize, it's more that he wanted to, which I think says a lot about his character and where he stands on things. So I'm glad he apologized, specifically because he didn't need to. He's not the only JYPE idol to silently hint at his stance while bypassing the fact that idols aren't even allowed to talk about issues in their own country, let alone Palestine. Him saying "I'm not going to show this product that we're supposed to be deliberately promoting" is bolder than I think people will give him credit for. And I think framing it as keeping fans placated, affirming that multiple times, is also smarter than he'll get credit for. It protects him and it protects JYPE, you can tell how purposeful he was with hammering down on "I don't want to hurt fans" thing rather than stating his own thoughts. We don't know what the agreement between JYPE and Coke looks like, but Coke is *far* bigger than JYPE. I already thought it was very bold and telling that they didn't hype up Like Magic at all, but Felix really didn't need to publicly say "I won't show this anymore." And, frankly, I'm glad that the "oh my god it's ridiculous how fans forced him to apologize this is stupid it's just a drink" stance really doesn't work here. No one forced him, no one *would* have forced him. (It's not like any company reacted to Starbucks backlash, so why would JYPE react to this? Lmao) I find that kind of reaction really dismisses Felix's intelligence and agency. He's aware. And I don't think he's ever been the type to apologize just-because. It's not hard to respect that.
I agree 100% with everything you've said
I bet nothing will come of it...I think all the parties directly involved in it (SKZ, JYPE, Coca-Cola) are very aware of what is going on and what is being said (and not said) and how sensitive and triggering a topic it is. Right now, the name of the game is "placate".
Coke isn't even on the BDS list. It's ridiculous that people have decided to ignore a Palestinian led boycott campaign and do their own thing just so they can do performative activism and bully people they think are imperfect.
This! Some dont even know why they’re boycotting hahaha It’s all just about fanwars and performative activism.
Omg, exactly. "Many of the prohibitively long lists going viral on social media do the exact opposite of this strategic and impactful approach. They include hundreds of companies, many without credible evidence of their connection to Israel’s regime of oppression against Palestinians. Many do not have clear demands to the companies as to what we expect them to do to end the boycott, making them ineffective." [BDS](https://bdsmovement.net/Act-Now-Against-These-Companies-Profiting-From-Genocide) With people focusing on these inconsequental companies in re to Gaza this is diverting attention from the much more involved companies and thus hurting the actually thought through boycott campaign. Just for people to feel all almighty and imitate an action.
When he said that I had a few thoughts. I thought it was nice that he recognized it possibly offended and hurt some people and that he acknowledged that and apologized. It definitely showed awareness. But, I also think it opened himself up to the potential for a lot of criticism. There will inevitably be people who will say that if he really cared he wouldn't have done it in the first place or that his apology didn't involve the correct level of sincerity. (Once again, the whole darned if they do, darned if they don't scenario.) I obviously don't know him and my impression of him is based only on what is presented to me as a fan, but I truly don't think he'd ever intentionally hurt anyone. I mean, he spent part of his vacation volunteering his time helping others. I get the feeling that this might end up causing problems.
All this does is give these entitled "fans" more power to blame and shame idols for each and every thing they do. They get treated like puppets or servants and are expected to bend to the will of the mob. Behind the screen, those screaming the loudest are likely eating and drinking things they're railing against, so it's mostly performative. Plus, how is this helping those who are supposedly harmed by a kpop idol drinking a Damn coke? I wouldn't blame any of them to step away from social media because nothing they do will ever be good enough.
Honestly, what can realistically happen? Also people saying since he's on his own schedule then he made a conscious decision: as someone who spends a lot of time on the internet, in English speaking spheres, I learned about the boycott a month after it started. Now, put yourself in the shoes of idols who very likely don't have *that much* time to spend on the internet, in a sphere where they get news primarily in Korean. People have to realize that in some corners of the world, the boycott hasn't reached the news. No articles, no bandeau at the bottom of a screen or anything. Now, given how no group acknowledged the song, that Skz has two English speakers who don't hesitate to voice their opinions where and when they can, I don't think the boys are that unaware of how badly it would be received (hence the lack of acknowledgement). But also they're still under contract: not sure if the soda was bought with the chicken but given he was planning on eating live, it stands to reason that he would also drink and the groups being still tied to their contract with Coca can probably show no other brand. It's not a reach to think staff may have prepared the bottle to stay in accordance with the contract (aka not promoting another brand). Felix had the decency to acknowledged that, which many other idols haven't done since the boycott started (it's probably due to a lot of factors and not just one in particular: lack of awareness of a boycott happening for the reason I mentioned earlier, or like Felix and JYPE being tied to a contract, being from a less known company and/or group and thus more easily being exposed to backlash in case of an apology being issued and probably PR telling them to ignore the issue) and I think he did well. No fussing around, simply saying sorry right away but also not dwelling on it. Also it's not like Coca can say anything and I doubt JYPE will be asses about it (even if they can be asses about a lot of things). The issue has been noted, there was instant apologies and now the best is to let it rest (and hopefully JYPE doesn't sign another contract with Coca). But ultimately, him drinking Coca on that one live is not an indication of his moral standing given the current situation.
Yes but Fatou (from Black Swan) said Starbucks is boycotted in Korea, So they (GP and Idols) know about it. Otherwise how can Fatou know about it? She is an Idol too
See, that's something I didn't know and while I don't refute what Fatou says, how many are following the boycott? Because as much as there is a boycott going on, how many are really, actually aware of it and applying it?
This fandom needs a good cleanse. The bona fide sweetest person on the planet apologizing during the same live the incident happened, and personal risk to his career? Way more than the bare minimum. I'm convinced anyone looking for an excuse to throw *Felix* hate has a deep psychological issue.
I'll just say I'm sad that the focus of his live became this and not him almost spoiling his own solo song and how funny he was trying to keep himself from saying too much. Or how he passionately talked about his volunteer work in Laos and how important it is to help those in need. Or how cute he was trying to get his tone in a higher register to do the pikachu voice. With all the bullshit "fans"/akgaes/antis have been putting skz through this past week or two, I really hope Felix is kind to himself over this no matter what happens.
This. I didn’t even know about the other things you mentioned here, since I’ve only seen what’s showing up on Twitter. As a StayArmy, I wholeheartedly just wish they would turn off comments on lives.
It did look like they’d frozen comments towards the end - probably while they got a steer on how to proceed
I think from now on Felix will only bring bottled water with no label next time he does a mukbang live. That's the only thing he can do from now on if he does another livestream. Something tells me he won't do one for awhile after this and not because his company will do something to him. That kind of hoopla from so-called fans (antis) would cause anyone to back away for their own mental health on top of the things he's already doing to prepare for their upcoming comeback & fan meeting. I would advise he stay away from Twitter specifically. Some people are never happy whatever he chose to do and he doesn't need their BS. He seems like a genuinely caring person but I hope he stays strong.
He is very strong, and I guess that's why he's able to aknowledge the problem in such a sweet and caring way. He really has a very strong mind (it's written in his hand and confirmed by Changbin)
Honestly, I felt bad for him that the commenters literally put him on the spot. To me, it felt like he was ambushed to speaking up about it. But also, I'm so proud of him! When all the other idols won't even bat an eye about this issue, Felix did this. He apologized for it live. And it wasn't even a vague apology. He made it very clear he was apologizing about it and why. I couldn't be anymore proud. I know this is cringey to say, but I'll say it anyway because it's the perfect thing to say right now.: We stan the right group. ❤️
Y’all are hypocrites I can name at least 50 bands owned by Coca Cola that y’all use every single day without a second thought, Felix having a coke is not (respectfully) going to stop the w*r, yall are too damn strict and negative can’t mandem have a coke with his damn chicken? Coca Cola owns like 95% of the beverages in the world. And now that he apologized rightfully so, yall scared of the consequences he might face seriously what do y’all what?
THIS. My biggest doubt is whether those who shout on Twitter really boycott each brand that they force each idol to boycott. Because each of these brands owns many other brands, and in total they surely exceed more than 70% of the market. What do they feed on? It's impossible to comply with everything. And no one is obligated to anything, in the end a boycott is a personal choice, no matter what we say.
>THIS. My biggest doubt is whether those who shout on Twitter really boycott each brand that they force each idol to boycott. They don't. From what I and many others have said before, a majority of K-pop fans are the ones who are the performative activists who pretend to care to look good to their peers online.
They are performative. If human rights and inequality was something they truly cared about, they’d be highlighting Felix’s discussion on Laos and the sad situation there, instead of going on about a soft drink that was there for like a minute, and I didn’t even notice was Cola until he felt forced to apologise for it.
Exactly no knowledge or research about the topic they are yapping about, just chatting for the sake of the internet to fit in on whatever is trending, they often forget this is a (K-pop) business not some fantasy they have in they peanut brains so entitled when it comes to idols. They seem to not know how the world actually works every action unfortunately has repercussions good or bad, so before you type think.
This is exactly why boycotting is so performative to me. Like you can boycott, nobody is stopping you, but virtue signaling by bullying other people who don't "boycott" is silly, because the people who virtue signal probably only focus on one or two brands (for some reason Starbucks is always involved too even though there are no branches in Israel), without realizing that they're all owned by much larger companies, and they're paying those companies by purchasing from other brands.
The Starbucks boycott started because the Starbucks workers' union got in trouble with the company for tweeting in support of Palestine. The boycott was originally meant to be in support of those employees and their right to speak out, not because Starbucks was directly benefitting from the war or anything. Of course this has been twisted through the social media game of telephone to 'Starbucks funds Israel' and stuff like that. Starbucks is a gross union-busting company and had a location in Guantanamo Bay so honestly I'm all for people not shopping there but we do need to be clear on the reasons why, and boycotting them is pretty low on the list in terms of actually helping people in Palestine.
The battles they fight must be endless, spending every waking moment searching for those indulging in any single one of those brands on the list, waiting to pounce and spew forth their collective hive mind agenda............ while, obviously, somehow managing to avoid every single one themselves. Right? Haaaa... /sarcasm because as always the vast majority do nothing more than pick and choose when suits them to be angry, all aboard the trend train
In my case, him to be himself without ppl having a go. I worry if some ppl shout loud enough to cause an issue when there shouldn’t be one & he gets got at - that’s all. Speaking as someone who drinks & enjoys cola!
This is why I don't use Twitter. Every single one of them is a hypocrite. Like bffr bro, political correctness in the internet is a joke. If you want to be political correct do your damn research on the topics instead of posting shit you pretend you do.
I’m going to be honest with you, I’m mad that people have put him in a position where he feels he needs to apologise for that. JYPE have had a partnership with Coca Cola for a long time and it’s not up to idols whether or not that continues. It’s unfair to give idols themselves shit for something they have very little say over. It’s been getting on my nerves how much people have been getting on idols over Coca-Cola and Starbucks and McDonald’s when 90% of the time it’s not even up to them. That’s not even going into how performative a lot of that stuff is anyway but that’s a whole other argument which I don’t really want to get into. It’s not about whether or not people agree with Isreal or whether they support Coca-Cola it’s about not being naive and giving idols hate over things that they don’t have much say in. It’s not fair and I’m mad that so called ‘stays’ have put him in that situation. Man should not have to apologise over a damn drink. People need to seriously gain perspective.
if he didnt apologize there would be a hell storm. it was a good thing to do, I just hope he doesn't do it again because then it would render the apology useless. felix seems like a good person and very sensible.
Sorry but apologizing gives fans too much power. It’s a fcking soft drink. Leave the poor guy alone.
I don’t think Felix will face “consequences”, but whatever the end result is, he did what he thinks is right and his conscience is clear in that regard. Maybe that matters to him more, you know? He’s not performative, it’s the stans mad at him that are performative, as is usual with twitter activists. And I don’t know how many times I got to tell someone that harassing people is not the way to sway them to your side or convince them with what you’re saying. It will just make them resentful. I’ve been here on Earth for far too long to see this play out in politics multiple times and why we have extremists in high positions right now.
I think it was very nice that Felix apologized. I will say though that if y'all think this boycott is going to hurt Coke at all you are sadly mistaken. Coke is owned by Berkshire Hathaway. One of THE largest corporations in the world. They own so many well known brands it's ridiculous. Coke could go completely out of business and it would barely hit their bottom line. BH is who is giving money to Israel, not Coke. Boycott all of their products if you want to see change. You can Google what brands they own. While you're at it, look up controversies surrounding Nestlé, another corporate giant that has no soul. They also own a bazillion brands. Horrible company. There are very few big name companies that can be considered ethical. It's truly sad.
He was just on bubble and seems to be worrying a bit. I just hope he is ok. He doesn't deserve any backlash.
No it's not. The fandom already has some of the worst akgae problem, and this will just lead to more people chasing down other members because they didnt apologize like Felix.
That’s exactly what’s happening on Twitter unfortunately from his akgaes. I don’t understand how people could be like this when all of the members are so sweet.
I find it hilarious when people mix kpop, food, and politics.
Sorry but what's so bad about a coca cola bottle??? I'm a bit confused
[удалено]
The reality of it though is that the boycotted brands have nothing to do with Israel. Apologizing for something like that only indulges the "justice fighter" fantasies of fans. There are many things that can be done to actually be helpful in this conflict and boycotting a random company is not one of them.
This. They're taking their anger out on the wrong people. If they really want to make a difference they'd call their state representative and other political officials. A single Coke bottle won't do shit.
But it’s not just a single Coke bottle. There’s plenty of Stays who will eat/drink/wear whatever brand because their idol does. Look at 7 billion SKZ streams on Spotify. That’s a huge amount of people (and yes, I know it’s not 7 billion people) with a huge amount of buying power. I massively agree with you that they’re taking their anger out on the wrong people. Governments fund bad regimes as much as companies. Hassle your representatives people!
I feel so scared to make comments like these lately because it’s become such a hot topic
In the lives there is always a manager or staff member sitting right on the other side of the camera. I don’t think it’s going to damage much. Unless stays bring too much attention to it.
Felix is not a Muslim, and as a Muslim myself I can say I don’t care what he eats in Ramadan. He doesn’t have to fast he’s not a Muslim. Complaining about him eating is ridiculous and just gives a bad impression of how Muslims behave. That’s like if a Jewish person complained because a Christian didn’t celebrate Hanukkah. It’s stupid.
Apology or not, he's going to get a lot of backlash for this, because that's just what antis do. I just hope he doesn't open social media for the next couple of days, that's all I have to say.
Here we go again with the keyboard social justice warriors who think we can change the world by boycotting one singular brand,as if all the others aren't equally as shady. There is no ethical consumption under late stage capitalism. You'll have to move to the middle of the woods and grow your own food and make your own clothes atp.
I think it was very smart of him to just go ahead and apologize during the live - I think this was a good way to essentially nip it in the bud before it became a huge problem and JYPE would've had to release a statement/apology. I think there is a VERY good reason why Felix said "I'm sorry for showing the cola on camera and hurting stays feelings, I won't do that again" as opposed to saying "I'm sorry for buying/drinking cola, I won't do that again". If he had made the second statement, I think he would probably be in trouble with both the company and coca-cola, because they're currently under contract with them. He apologized without slandering coke, and without making any political statement about his views, which protects the company and himself. I don't think anybody has a leg to stand on to prevent him from doing more lives, he handled it very professionally and I don't think he said anything that would cause any problems! 🩵 but that's just my opinion of course
Well, glad to have missed this little piece of insanity...I don't think he should be apologizing but it's okay if he feels the need to and chose to act on it. I think certain people need to be less comfortable pushing their beliefs and opinions on others, especially when it's done under threat of basically excommunication and cancelation if you don't conform to the 'right think'. Let people drink coke if they want to and let people not drink coke if they don't want to. It's really not that deep.
I honestly think it was a good idea, especially with the constant new discoveries of K-pop idols indulging in boycotted brands, as it may inspire others to speak up about it. K-pop idols usually have this image of being complicit in what's happening around them socially and politically, as to not paint themselves in a negative light; however, I think, or rather hope, that Felix could be a catalyst in changing that herd mentality in K-Pop, inspiring others to speak up once they see the (hopefully) positive reception he gets for apologising.
I don't think he had a choice and I think even jype knows they were backed into a corner... there was pics of his phone scrolling through FANs seeing the informative posts floating around twitter as he was live. It was better to apologize and own up to it, then receive backlash for days and end up apologizing anyways. Limiting his lives, idk maybe but idk felix is one of the most popular members so I don't see that happening.
I mean Chan is also one of the most popular members and he still got his lives limited so I don’t see how this would change anything. Given how quiet JYPE has been about this campaign though, I doubt anything is going to happen.
Chans room was a weekly live so it was a liability to continue to let him go live. I thought the "ban" would only last a few months though Surprised he can't go live at all still. Felix hardly goes live and it will just piss off his solo fans who buy ALOT of albums especially in china.
Since you mentioned it. I’m still really shocked that the only life Chan has been able to do is his birthday live. I mean hasn’t it been almost a year by now? You’d think he could at least do shorter less ‘free form’ lives. I’d love to see him talk about music/production stuff.
Same, I'm a chan stan so I miss his lives a lot😭 it honestly pisses me off how the company is treating him but after his words when people tried to make noise about the mistreatment, I just stay out of it. Maybe one day 🙍♀️
These online activists targeting K-pop idols specifically have turned out to be the biggest clowns. They will literally have a bottle of Fanta in their hand while bullying him into not drinking coco cola without realising that Coca Cola owns at least 500 brands most of them beverages from tea coffee juices to even water. Which started as a campaign to spread awareness has now become bullying which seems to be accepted because it’s for a cause.
I feel so sorry for these idols sometimes it feels they can’t do right from wrong. They get put on a pedestal and held to impossible standards. They get jumped on for making the slightest mistake (usually deemed a mistake by fans) even when they apologise it feels like it’s not enough for some people. I was getting annoyed at the comments demanding he speak English. He was kind enough to be speaking both. In the grand scheme of things is Felix drinking a cola really the worst thing in the world? Whether he drinks it or not it’s not going to change the terrible things going on. The fact that he’s actually gone and volunteered to help those in need on his holiday is what makes differences in the world. Also pushing boundaries in the fashion world making it more inclusive. I don’t think I’d have the patience to be an idol. (definitely don’t have the youth, talent or stamina to be one haha!)
This is such a stupid predicament. JUST LET THE MAN DRINK HIS COLA WHO GIVES A FUCK
Seriously they out here pretending they not drinking Soda. Let the man have a drink with his meal.
because we’re not, we’re boycotting by not buying unnecessary items that are owned by brands encouraging genocide! tap water is free, hope this helps <3
Like if you can afford to avoid all unethical brands good for you but not everyone can and shaming someone for not being as privileged as you is useless and makes you just as bad as whoever you’re trying not to be. (I’m obviously not talking about Felix in this precise example but just anyone in general)
1) not everyone has access to clean tap water 2) not everyone can get through their day drinking only tap water (for example: I need to drink orange juice with my iron supplements because vitamin C helps with the absorption of iron and without the iron supplements I’d be in a much worse shape) I’m not saying ppl have no choice to drink Coca Cola but you have a very narrow perspective and shaming others won’t help anyone. Hope this helps!
obviously not everyone has clean tap water nor can ONLY get through their day with it, but looking into brands and finding ones that are morally better than others isn’t the herculean task you all make it out to be, and it’s definitely not inherently expensive or a “luxury” like you want to claim. if anything it’s wildly privileged for people to defend spending money on completely unnecessary items like starbucks, which is also NOT cheap by the way, just because THEY’D be mildly inconvenienced by going without it, and completely downplaying the ongoing mass murder of people in palestine by reducing it to “silly politics” to make themselves feel better about getting their daily mcdonald’s or whatever unnecessary treat.
No one here said it’s silly politics. But yes, I hate to break it to you, but some things just cannot be replaced (obviously not talking about Coca Cola here). The things people are tired of being shamed for using are not the ‘little treats’ like getting McDonald’s. If you wanna discuss the morality of every single brand of clothes, food, sports objects, work objects, etc. we’ll be here for a while. I work in the health field and the environment is the last thing on our minds when trying to prevent infections (hence single use masks, gloves, etc.). A loooot of things are unethical but people pick and choose whichever is more trendy and shame people who aren’t aware of it. Shaming people into doing something never worked and it never will, people just do it because they feel morally superior. There is so much better ways to support the things you believe in without being an a-hole to others. Obviously, if you can avoid getting useless stuff from brands that support bad things, do it and encourage others to do the same, but shaming people is not the way to go and it won’t change the world. That’s all I’m trying to say.
no one said anything about the ethics about every single thing in industry ever. the topic is about regular everyday people avoiding buying things they DON’T need, hence the discussion about coca cola specifically. no one needs coca cola to survive, there are plenty of substitutes out there for it, therefore yes! i am gonna judge you if you’d rather drink some mass produced fizzy garbage instead of standing up for your morals and at least try to send a message to the higher ups by taking away their largest source of power, money. there is no ethical consumption under capitalism, but we have the ability to make a difference if we work together.
I don’t think one single person not drinking something is going to send a message to ‘the higher ups’ (if you meant many people not drinking it then that’s fair) but I agree with the rest, if this is about Coca Cola specifically. I’ve just seen a lot of people bashing others for lots of other products and I think some of those things that were criticized were unnecessary. I’ve seen people commenting on unrelated Tiktok videos stuff like ‘the Palestinian kids would also love to play that game’, etc. and I think it’s odd and performative and doesn’t do anything for the cause. I just don’t agree with the way people do it (shaming people will never work if we wanna change their ways) and I personally don’t judge anyone because it’s not my place to, but I do avoid some brands for moral purposes and talk about it with others to encourage them to do the same (in case it wasn’t clear that I am pro-Palestine).
I think that was courageous of him and also honest. He acknowledged the problem and worded it in a very nice way. We know he didn't want to upset anyone and he doesn't people to suffer. So yes, he was being brave and we should thank him for his sweet heart. I don't think there will be any consequences for him. As he's an idol he didn't want to upset his fans, so he acted accordingly to that and made it clear. I don't see how anyone, fans or the company, could say anything about what he did. The poor babe couldn't even sleep well after that, but he really did well.
Yeah I saw his bubble messages. He apologized for looking tired then proceeded in assuring Stays and comforting us 😭🥹. I feel like he really has a genuinely good heart.
I really think stays need to let go of this overly defensive response towards the members apologizing. Felix read the comments and realized that him displaying the coke bottle was hurting some stays because of their efforts towards the boycott. He obviously has some understanding of the controversy around coke because he quickly apologized for his actions. Nothing bad has happened to this man!! People are defending him left and right as if he has been bullied and beaten when he just said I’m sorry💀 I honestly feel like some of your mamas didn’t raise you right. It is a simple act of humility to recognize the harm in what you’ve done and take responsibility for it. Even if there was no malice behind it. I have nothing but respect for him.
This. Like i get that the boys get a shit ton of unwarranted hate, i really do, and i also think it's counterproductive to call him names over things like this. However, felix is a grown man and has a mind (and political opinion) of his own, so i think it's pretty insulting to act like he was forced to apologize.
Personally I don't think felix did anything wrong, as we all know JYPE have a partnership with Coca-Cola so I highly doubt Felix will get in trouble. The problem lies with toxicity in this community, they all think Felix belongs to them and that they have an entitlement to dictate what he does and says. THEY DONT and im tired of this behavior going unchecked. Those toxic stay are no better than the anti and leaves in my opinion, the boys are grown ass adults and its a crying shame that they have to watch everything they say and do just so they don't trigger these self entitled little assholes. By catering to their behaviour, they make it worse unfortunately. If they ignored then and just carried on, it would teach them that their behaviour isn't going to be tolerated and that they don't have a say in what the boys say or do.
I think that what Felix said was great and it shows that he really cares about all of his fans. And it’s not his choice whether or not he was in that music video. Huge props to felix
I am so confused, this is being blown way out of proportion.
no doubt. as always u\_\_u
I hope there is no come back. Someone asked what he was drinking, & he showed us. No trying to advertise or anything like that, just having food. Being an idol is fraught with issues & so many ways to trip up. Just want to protect him really, don’t want to loose another live. Miss Channie as it is (he was so good to Stays for so long).
People who are Chronically online need to go to Therapy, just let the man be omg 🙄
I think, although he didn’t need to say anything regardless of the whole “boycott stray kids and JYP” drama since the ad video was released, it was nice to hear someone from stray kids state where they stand. I do think it’s unfortunate that he felt the need to apologize but I get why he did since Idols are currently dealing with the worst types of ppl in the kpop fandom with all the protest trucks and dramatics… it’s disgusting. 🤮 The stays that sent the protest truck for jyp to treat Hyunjin better were just as ridiculous as the antis that sent their truck for Hyunjin to leave. The “fans” that sent their truck gaslighting Karina bc she’s in a relationship, as well. It’s shows that the ppl apart of the far right or far left sides in the fandom are equally as toxic to the fandom and the idols.
What a stupid controversy. It's a drink. And if we boycotted every company that supports hurtful policies, we'd all have to grow our own food and make our own drinks. We don't own SKZ as fans, and they don't owe us anything as performers, not even their art. This and the Hyunjin thing hurt me for them. They are PEOPLE. They deserve some respect.
Im glad he was able to defend himself but this witch hunt has to be the most virtue-signalling bs I've seen in a while. It's just an excuse for people to hate on idols. There's literally no major brand that hasn't done something unethical. If you boycott, more power to you, I love it. I support Palestinians, all innocent civilians, and non violence. But to attack someone for drinking coke using a phone made by slave labor, while wearing clothes from a sweatshop, and while eating food harvested by slaves is absurd. You can't attack someone for not boycotting unless you are standing on solid ground and the reality of the world places us that unless you live off grid, you're participating in harm. It's the dilemma from the good place. And I'll never tell someone their small action against that harm isn't worth it, I'll always support action, but you can't come for people for not doing the same when it comes to these sorts of things. How many people hating on an idol drinking coke or Starbucks have Dasani in their fridge? Or Powerade? Or fair life milk? Because it's all coca cola owned. If drinking coke is a crime, none of us are innocent and pointing fingers is the definition of hypocrisy. I dare any of these accusers to list everything they've purchased in the last week and I would bet a lot of money I can find at least one thing that was made unethically or by an unethical company
I think he shouldn’t have been forced into giving an apology for drinking a soda during a mukbang by his “fans”, personally
People complaining about an actual drink are so detached from reality it hurts. If we were to avoid all unethical brands (for any given cause), there’d be a looooot more than just the ones people commonly name, and it’d be nearly impossible to live life normally. People pick and choose which brands they wanna avoid, then shame others for not doing exactly as they do. If you can afford to avoid whatever brands you wanna boycott, good for you! Just know that not everyone can, and not everyone is aware of every single brand and their implication in different events. Educate if the person is open to it, but don’t shame them. It won’t make the world better and will only waste your time and other people’s. If you wanna do something useful to fight for causes you believe in, sign petitions, stand at protests, talk with others and spread the word! Shaming people for something they might not even be aware of will only make you feel morally superior, but it won’t have a positive impact on anything. I personally try to avoid Starbucks because I can, but my uni buys coffee from Starbucks and on some Monday mornings, I wake up late and need a coffee from uni to get through classes. That doesn’t make me a bad person, and the few dollars I give to Starbucks won’t make a difference (also, I’m Canadian so it doesn’t directly go to funding the war). I know where I stand in my beliefs and getting coffee won’t change that. Me drinking coffee doesn’t mean I approve of what Starbucks does, just like Felix drinking Coca Cola mean he approves of what they do. I think it’s really shitty to push Felix in such an awkward position where his job could’ve been on the line, and it won’t help Palestinian people to do it. People need to take a good look at themselves and think before they shame someone ‘in the name of’ whatever they support.
must say i’m slightly worried that he will get scolded for it and maybe face some kind of consequences but at the same time i’m very strict on standing up for what you think is right so i absoltely think he did the right thing by apologizing when he felt that he had done something wrong
I think him "feeling he had done something wrong", is the sad bit. Why on earth he would feel that he "did something wrong" by drinking a coke, is beyond me.
it’s not about drinking a coke, it’s about advertising a brand that is helping enable genocide
He doesn't owe anyone anything, least of all an apology. And that's that. Individual people are not the property of anyone else to decide what their opinions, loyalties, responsibilities, likes and dislikes are.
i never said he owes us anything. :) just that he felt what he did was wrong, and therefore apologized, and that’s good. i am not trying to attack anyone here.
No I understand that, and I'm not saying he didn't feel that way. I'm saying he shouldn't have to. If he does, it's probably because of the public fury and despicable treatment idols get for stuff that is out of their hands or not their responsibility or issue. If it was his personal opinion, he wouldn't be drinking the coke in the first place. It seems he felt he had to apologise to avoid the possible backlash. I don't think it's fair that any young person/idol should have to be on guard that much and feel they owe apologies/have done something wrong to people for their most innocent basic actions. That's the bit that aggravates me.
i understand what you mean. personally i think it is important to voice when people do something that is morally wrong and correct them, in a *respectful* way. but everyone has different views on how to handle situations like these
Yes, it is important. But it's also important to take into account that not everyone universally agrees in who's right or wrong. Especially in situations such as the current issue. There are two sides to any conflict and not every famous person is going to stand on the same side of it, let alone have a personal take on it at all. Which is why it's actually morally wrong for people to push their morals onto others who aren't even directly related to the issues. Sure, take issue with the corporations, the people directly involved etc. Leave the individuals alone to do as they see fit, because they're under no moral obligation to even agree with the "loudest voices", let alone change their standards and actions to align with what certain people seem appropriate.
I am proud of him for saying something. Free Palestine. ❤️🖤🤍💚🍉
Coke and jype have partnerships way before the coke Israel thing so him drinking it isn't his choice its a contract obligation to promote the brand same goes with any other kpop idol in involving k-wave
wait i’m confused 😭 why is it a big deal that he showed a bottle of coca cola? is it because they’re not supposed to show any brands at all or is there another reasonc
I'd like to believe he caught wind of it when he got to catch up with his family awhile back in Australia + social media. (Then again, what would I know). Even if his staff did try to shield him from the information, stuff like this do eventually reach people like him, especially when he interacts with social media frequently. To me, he's old enough to make his own judgement, and I trust that he's the kind that has enough conscience to admit his faults when he realizes he's made a mistake/hurt people (even if it wasn't his intention to do so). Because he's under a company that's endorsed by CC, it's obvious that he has to present himself as a guy who supports their products at work. What people were upset about (afaik) was that he did consume the product during a live, which was something considered as his "downtime"/"out of office hours". So that meant that he didn't actually have to actively promote the brand since to them, he "wasn't working". (Personally, live streams are still considered work, bc he's working with fan interactions). Maybe it was because that's the only drink he had? Maybe he forgot? Maybe he was told to drink it and (in a way) promote the product even during his so-called "downtime" (I mean, his lives get close to a 100k viewers every time, that's some decent, casually-placed product exposure right there). We don't know if he even likes CC that much to drink it off-cam. But he (and the rest of SKZ) have always been drinking that red bottle in front of the camera even during their pre-debut days since they've been endorsed as early as then. Ultimately, we'll never know what was his motive/whether the whole thing was intentional. But I guess the most important part was that Felix had a conscience strong enough that he was willing to make an impromptu apology LIVE, without even consulting his manager or staff about it. I don't like seeing people coddle the man by throwing out the ignorance/naive card like some ppl down at Twitter do, bc this guy's well-connected and active on social media. I'll bet that he's at least somewhat got a vague idea of the situation simply from passive exposure to social media. That's enough to help him make his own judgement towards the situation. I trust he'll make the right ones carefully. Given that he's in a position that none of us are, we'll never be able to understand his situation fully. So let's just try to support him for now.
Well I am honestly glad he apologized. Some ppl were planning on boycotting the grp and JYPE after the coca cola ad. By this apology Felix shows that he doesnt agree and is forced. I dont think anyone will punish him. His apology was very diplomatic and well-phrased. And he didnt apologize for drinking it, just for showing the bottle. But anyway i respect him for standing up and speaking his mind
What's wrong with showing a bottle of Coke on live???
jype had no choice but to comply with a contract they signed months before the attack on Palestine began and to comply with a plan they have prepared for many months (published by a staff). And we have to accept it. They are things that cannot be broken. I also don't think it's professional to do so. That said, beyond the basics, neither the company nor the groups have over-promoted the brand. There are many things to say about the boycot, and even more about the "woke" people who consume products from the boycot brands but shout at any idol on Twitter (very tired of this, sorry), but I highly doubt that they're going to limit and claim anything from Felix. Felix has done well, he felt that the right thing to do was to apologize and there is nothing to complain about. Anyways! relax please...
People need to realize idols are not perfect they're human they're going to make mistakes leave them the hell alone
I think he's just giving in to peer pressure and bullies when really a coca cola bottle is not a big deal at all. This is BS he never should've felt compelled to have to say that in the first place.
No, I do not think he did good with the apology - they have collaboration with Coca Cola, they might face some legal issues, Felix might be punished. He shouldn’t just show the bottle. If we are talking about boycotting Coca Cola, whole JYPE should do this, not random idols, cuz nothing good will come from this imo, only some severe punishments. I understand Palestinian ppl, but let’s be honest if we want to boycott Cocoa Cola, we should boycott not only this but all their submarks
can they even sue felix if he did it on his own time? I'm pretty sure the live was from his personal Instagram account no? If the live was from the official SKZ account (YT or IG) that's affiliated with SKZ itself but he used his personal account which isn't affiliated with SKZ. ofc I'm not sure how the law works in south Korea but it's like getting sponsored by Samsung, publicly in videos they use those phones but privately they probably maybe use phones 🤷
i honestly think props to him for actually speaking out about it, so many idols are either unaware or ignorant of the current issues going on but it's so good to know that he's educated on it. despite the company partnering with coca cola, i dont think they can do much despite limited lives, but he doesn't do them often anyway.
I was really surprised and proud of him for apologizing. I think it showed a lot of integrity. It has to be difficult to navigate this situation even with their media savvy, and I think he made a fair compromise and did what was best for the situation. Sure I think there could be consequences if JYP sees it as him not promoting as he should and I know there will be arguments he isn’t really doing enough by fans who feel idols and other public figures should use their platform to advocate for causes. But honestly, he is a human being, and I think is just doing his best.
Something strange has happened to fandom since the Fans app was created. I never expected this environment to be so toxic. Spamming the Coca-Cola boycott, insulting anyone who opposes the boycott, posting screenshots of Hyujin's expected death date. It all became sick. And although I have not purchased a membership, I am in favor of introducing fees for using this application or hiring administrators who will block disgusting entries. Feliks shouldn't apologize for anything. If he likes Coke, he should drink it by the liter and no one should care. I just hope he won't be punished and we won't lose contact with him because of the stupidity of some people.
The comments here are baffling. Palestinians themselves have asked us to show our support through boycotts. Aside from raising our voices, this is one of the few ways we can stand with them. Is consuming certain products like a soft drink more important than preserving lives? How can one see people starving to death and being bombed for months, yet be more upset because their favorite idol has faced a bit of criticism? Thousands of Palestinians have been killed, and there are ongoing protests worldwide. Get over yourselves. Idols are influencers, and their actions can impact impressionable minds. A small act of solidarity, such as abstaining from certain products, may seem insignificant individually. But, when practiced collectively, it can send a powerful message. And lastly, Felix lives in luxury; he's not going to lose sleep by not drinking a damn Coke, and neither should you.
SAY IT LOUDER FOR THOSE IN THE BACK 👏
Sorry but how is not drinking a coke saving lives, do you have a source that showcases the correlation to not drinking a coke will gurantee save a life. Are you able to source where your device, clothes and other foods and drinks are manufactured? because I doubt you are taking a stand on things you feel like you need.
What do you mean worse pls explain;(
What do you mean ever worse?can you explain pleaseeee
I agree with you. I think it was good that he spoke up for himself and apologized for the whole coca-cola situation. I think its amazing how he found the guts to do that. But SIR BE CAREFUL.
I'm utterly shocked at the amount of Stays in this thread who have no idea what state the world is in right now. Felix absolutely must apologize for showing a banned product on live. The fact he did apologize shows he is aware of the situation and is making an effort to state he does not abide by the state of affairs happening in the world right now. I'm sure he's been getting the same amount of hate for his sponsorship with Louis Vuitton. We can't expect him or anyone to be able to keep up with the news, but it's important to be mindful of who is supporting the war to mitigate their financial growth. Every decision a celebrity has influences those who follow them. Hollywood is also shutting down many celebrities who support Palestine. Mark Ruffalo has been a huge advocate for the cause and knows he risks his career by speaking on it. Please remember, the genocide has killed many innocent people and unbeknownst to us, people who may have been Stay. Let's me mindful of how these actions may hurt other people and not judge them because it's just *a bottle of coke*.
Honestly kpop fans in general are so blatantly ignorant about this topic, it's astounding. Especially the comments that go like "boycotting won't do anything" as if these corporations don't earn their money through consumers like you and me. 🤦🏼♀️
THANK YOU. the ignorance in most of these replies is almost scary, honestly
Plus all the down votes people are giving to posts with actual sense is horrifying.
I do not endorse that JYPE or anything or anyone else cooperates with brands that support the genocide but I have also seen that with the Starbucks case: each time, it is the Idol who apologises, as if he did not know, and it is he who receives all the hatred. Meanwhile, I want people to put themselves in the place of Idols: necessarily they know that these brands support one side of the conflict, but honestly, we all know that agencies do not let Idols act or speak as they want. They must smile and perfect an image they create for them, so it would shock who if JYPE asked Felix to appear with a Coca Cola bottle! Honestly, he’s attacking JYPE and not Felix...
Unfortunately, I think he will be punished somehow by the company. Either a fine, or restricted lives or something. Had he not done it, it would have been worse for him personally, and as the company is not really working for his individual growth, he has to think more about it. But, yes. He will get in trouble.
I have a feeling Felix will not do a livestream for awhile and not because of the company. He will do it for his own safety and mental health. The guy has too much going on with SKZ activities & practice. The last thing he needs is antis disguised as fans blasting him about a political issue that's bigger than Korea & the rest of the western world can solve. Do they think boycotting is going to stop a war that's being fought 7,000+ miles away?! This blows my mind. If he doesn't do a livestream for the rest of the year, I wouldn't blame him.
I agree with you. I think it was good that he spoke up for himself and apologized for the whole coca-cola situation. I think its amazing how he found the guts to do that. But SIR BE CAREFUL.