London said it was “wrong and unhealthy” for her to try to look like Park Ji-min with plastic surgery. Oli London via YouTube and The Chosunilbo JNS/Getty Images
Oli London is a white British influencer who has faced backlash for saying he identifies as Korean.
The influencer previously said they had 32 plastic surgeries to look like BTS singer Park Ji-min.
On Monday, London apologized to the BTS star and the Asian community for previous comments.
Oli London, a white British influencer who said he had 32 plastic surgeries to look more like BTS band member Park Ji-min, has apologized to the singer and the Asian community, saying her behavior is “obsessive” and “not correct”. and unhealthy.”
London, which has 1 million TikTok followers and uses the pronouns “they” and “they,” previously faced backlash and criticism from pundits and academics for saying it identifies as Korean.
The influencer has said publicly that she has undergone eye surgery, liposuction, penis reduction surgery, and other procedures to “look more Korean.” Members of the Asian community previously told insiders they felt London’s practices promoted racial stereotypes about Koreans and accused London of cultural appropriation.
On August 29, London released a YouTube video titled “APOLOGY VIDEO (My Apology to Jimin & the Asian Community)”.
“It was wrong of me to obsessively imitate Ji-min,” London said. “I can’t be another person, I just have to love myself.”
London said they suffered from bullying at school which led to self-esteem issues and when they discovered Park they saw him as the “path to happiness” and tried to “become” him.
London said they had no “bad intentions” but they “realize now it wasn’t the right thing”. They said they realized they could be happy without trying to emulate Park thanks to their recent marriage to what they describe as a “Ji-min lookalike.” In an interview with Newsweek and SWNS in early August, London said they would pay for her husband Danny Richardson, 19, to have plastic surgery to look like Ji-min.
London went on to say that they still “identify as Korean.”
The story goes on
In a statement to Insider, London said they consider themselves “transracial” — a term they’ve often used in the past to describe themselves.
The statement went on to say that they hope to become Korean honorary citizens and “live as legally recognized Koreans.”
London also said they went to therapy to help cope with an “addiction to plastic surgery.”
“I changed my whole life because I thought I could be as beautiful and talented as Jimin. But I finally realized that was wrong and unhealthy,” the statement continued.
The term “transracial” is very controversial. In July 2021, Braden Hill and Stevie Lane of Edith Cowan University in Australia wrote that the term is “a prime example of racism” because a person cannot identify as “transracial” in the way people identify as transgender because a A person who does not inherit their sex as they inherit their race.
While the video received some support in the comments, many viewers criticized the video, saying they didn’t think the influencer should have apologized while claiming to identify as Korean.
“You can love Korea and realize what its culture has done for you (which makes me genuinely happy for you), but that doesn’t make you a Korean,” said a top 229-like comment.
London told Insiders in a separate statement that they were aware of the criticism, but responded by repeating that they “identify as Korean.”
“My love for Korean culture hasn’t changed. I just realized that my overly obsessive behavior towards Jimin was not normal and stemmed from my deep-rooted inner dissatisfaction stemming from the years of bullying I received about my looks as a child,” they said.
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