What caused the backlash against Sam Okyere?

Article: Sam Okyere and the Uijeongbu High 'coffin dance parody', who crossed the line?

Source: Seoul News via Naver

1. [+2,118, -88] What made me realize that Sam might have negative feelings about Korea is that he went out of his way to tag 'teakpop'. He claims to not have known what that tag was for but that makes no sense. He himself has a history of racism with the slanted eyes and he chose to make Koreans out to be racists by using that tag. I just want him to go back to his country. That's the cleanest solution.

2. [+1,721, -48] If Koreans were racist, would he have been able to become such a celebrity and make all this money? And if he was angry with the Koreans for this, he should've kept his original post to Korean but he also wrote it in English and tagged an irrelevant kpop hashtag to screw Koreans over. Then, as if embarrassed by the world, he wrote an apology in Korean and closed his comments. He seems to have an inferiority complex, and his actions have been cowardly and malicious.

3. [+1,214, -25] The coffin dance leader himself posted the Uijeongbu High students and congratulated them. He has no problem with the picture.

4. [+893, -112] He made Koreans out to be fools to the world and ruined our country's image. He needs to leave for Ghana immediately. An apology will not quiet this. I hate that he's living in Korea at all anymore. Make him leave the country and take down all TV shows featuring foreigners. I no longer want to see them.

5. [+478, -13] Okyere is just a foreigner who speaks Korean. We should not be surprised if he ever says that he hates Koreans.

6. [+429, -2] This might be an easy issue to overlook but Sam specifically said that Koreans needed to be "educated", that they're "ignorant", and tagged the whole post with 'teakpop' with the intent to tell the world that Koreans are racist. If he felt that there was racism at play, he could've expressed himself in just Korean so why did he make that separate English post? Why aren't those high school students allowed to costume themselves the real way Ghanaians look? It's not like they can portray a black person with white skin, can they? It's obvious the students had pure intentions, and I know that Okyere apologized but the fact that he wrote a separate post in English shows deliberate intention to put Koreans down.

7. [+249, -4] He's very lenient with himself. Fine, let's say it was blackface. The teens were wrong for not knowing that but what's your excuse for not knowing about slanted eyes as a man in your thirties?

8. [+182, -5] To summarize this whole thing, these Asian students who aren't well versed in the history of blackface parodied a famous meme, which Sam Okyere chose to post on his SNS at a time when people are already sensitive with the Black Lives Matter movement. He tagged 'teakpop' to bring in foreign attention and to tell them, "look, this is how racist and ignorant Koreans are". If Sam Okyere truly wanted to educate about the racism of blackface, he should've started his post a kinder manner with the history of blackface and urged Koreans to be more mindful of it.

9. [+179, -16] If Koreans were so racist, could someone like you ever have become such a celebrity? Stay quiet and screw off... I was always uncomfortable with seeing you on TV anyway.

10. [+128, -2] Sam!!!! Leave!!!! Back to your country...!!! I don't know how well educated your country is but leave!!! Don't come back on TV!!!! Do you think our country is a joke because you make your money here????????

11. [+104, -1] But why.. instead of 'kpop'... did he tag 'teakpop'? I really hope he didn't do it with malicious intentions... please think before you act... before you speak...

12. [+76, -0] I just didn't see a reason for him to post those students and make a mockery out of them to the entire world. He's a public figure. If he felt that it was racist, he should've used it as a teaching opportunity about how such parodies are perceived in foreign countries.

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