(CelebrityAccess) – Big Hit Entertainment, the company that represents Korean boy band BTS, has issued an apology after photographs featuring one member of the group wearing a Nazi-inspired hat and another a T-shirt that appeared to show the atomic bombings of Japan, surfaced online.
Outrage over the photos prompted the cancellation of a scheduled performance by the group on a popular Japanese TV network last week, following a sold-out performance at Tokyo Dome mere days earlier.
In a statement posted to Big Hit Entertainment’s Facebook page, the company said it “had no intention of causing distress or pain” to those affected by the nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the days leading up to Japan’s surrender on 15 August 1945 – a date Koreans mark as their liberation from Japanese colonial rule.
Big Hit also offered its “sincere apologies not only for failing to take the precautions that could have prevented the wearing of such clothing by our artist that inadvertently inflicted pain on anyone affected by the use of atomic weapons, but to anyone who may have experienced distress and discomfort by witnessing the association of our artists with imagery related to atomic bombings”.
BTS’ next performance on their Japanese tour is scheduled for November 21st at Osaka’s Kyocera Dome.
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