Ok, I'm sure a lot of people know I love (read: am obsessed with) Seventeen as of late. But I'm really pissed off at some fans. Now, I'll say this: I get why people are offended. I'm sure if I were black and liked SVT and heard two members saying a very derogitory term, I'd get really angry. But if you're a true kpop fan you'd have already known that 'naega' sounds a lot like the word that black people often use to refer to themselves, yet get mad when anyone else uses. (I get it, it's a racist word, kinda like cracker for a while person)

Also please note since I'm not one to swear too much, I won't physically be SAYING what people thought the Seventeen members were saying.

Ok, first 'offense': Seungcheol/S.Coups. Now, firstly, s.coups is a rapper, and most kpop rappers look up to English rappers, most of which ARE black and use the n word, so it doesn't surprise me if S.coups KNOWS the word, but is maybe just not aware of what it means. So even if he DID say it, I highly doubt he said it to be racist. Now, I've done a lot of research on what people think he ACTUALLY said, and I'm going to say, first of all, Korea has various dialects, some of which where words that dont have much meaning in a more Seoul dialect. I've read one account from a Korean that claims Ma is a word that doesn't mean anything (except maybe Mother, like in 'look ma no hands' for example), even in a more Satoori dialect (which is a dialect used in Daegu, which is where S.Coups was born). I've also read a different account from a Korean that says 'Ma' is a word similar to 'Yah', in, I believe, Satoori dialect. Whichever it is, after finally finding and watching the accused video, as far as I can tell, they were playing what looked and sounded like a Korean word game, where they said something and followed it up with something else to form a sentence. Whether he said 'Ma, I am...', 'Ma, I am going...', or 'Yah, I am...', or even 'Ma nig*a', I mean it's completely up to the listener. But you also have to take into account the person saying it and where theyre from. It seemed to me (after listerning to it again) that he slipped into some sort of dialect when he said it. And the other members were obviously saying it because it sounded funny.

Now, I see S.Coups as one of the sweetest, nicest leaders out of all the kpop groups I know. (Keyword: ONE of) He's helpful to his dongsaengs, seems like he's good for giving advice, and definitely would not be the type to SWEAR ON CAMERA. And I'm positive they knew they were on camera. And even if he DID swear at any opportune time, be it on or off camera, why would he even think about swearing in English. Now I get some of the members speak English because they're imitating Joshua and Vernon, and that's called learning. And we'll get back to the English speaking members later, since I've seen people bringing stuff up about Joshua laughing at what S.Coups said. But back to S.Coups personality; most fans have probably known Seventeen for at least 2-3 years before debut because of 17TV, so I'm sure you could get a good grip on how S.Coups acts and reacts to things from all those years where they were filmed as trainees. I know this part is my opinion, but I thought I'd add it in, not as proof or anything, because I in no means know S.Coups in person so I can't PHYSICALLY judge, but just as an opinion as to why I think S.Coups wouldn't say anything like the n word ON PURPOSE. 

Now, back to the English speaking members. Joshua was said to have laughed at what S.Coups said. Does that prove S.Coups said the n word? Not really, since the entire group that was there was also laughing. And Joshua doesn't seem like the type of person who would laugh when someone says something that at least HE should know to be derogatory. We all know Joshua is super religious with either Catholicism or Christianty--he obviously believes in God and Jesus. He's also self proclaimed as a gentleman, and it's easy to see he's not lying because he's the sweetest little cinnamon bun out there. If he even THOUGHT S.Coups said the n word, he would've definitely stepped in and told S.Coups not to say such a word. Now if it was Vernon who was laughing (he probably was, since it seemed like everyone was amused by S.Coups phrase), then MAYBE it would be plausible that S,Coups said the n word. But I'm sure even Vernon has his limits to swearing (even though I know he said the f bomb in Lotto) and even he would've tried to explain to S.Coups what he was saying, as in both NYC and LA you'd definitely hear the n word a lot and know what it means (even though Vernon left NYC when he was young, I'm sure he still knows). Both English speakers, while they still let their members wear questionable shirts with questionable English on it (hey, freedom of fashion) will defintely know/be aware of the supposed derogatory term S.Coups used and probably wouldn't let S.Coups say something like that. 

On another note I just thought of; this was a broadcast. Be it live or not, I'm sure someone on editing would've caught on to it being a swear/derogatory word. If it wasn't a live broadcast, then they definitely would've bleeped out the word in editing. And this could apply also to a similar mishap with Seungkwan, but we'll get to that in a second. The whole point of editing is to fix/edit things that may be boring, irrelevent, or even inappropriate. So even if he DID say something the editors thought to be bad, it either would've been bleeped out or edited out entirely, since Koreans take swearing less lightly than say America, especially in TV. (i.e on Roommates S1, Bom had said/questioned if a certain type of fish looked like (what was implied) crap/. But it got bleeped out in editing because it was a swear.) I know none of this is proof that S.Coups DIDN'T say the n word, but this is just my analysis of the whole thing. Now, moving on to the 'second offence'.

I believe Seungkwan's apparent mention of the n word was when svt went to the MAMAs, their first trip to Hong Kong, so their stay in the hotel was recorded. (Note: before I found out about Seungkwan's use of the n word, I had watched a video that looked like it had taken place on the same day etc, where Seungkwan and The8 (mainly Seungkwan) was dancing and singing to Chained Up by VIXX) Firstly, Seungkwan doesn't have the best English in the kpop world. It's completely ok to call his English 'Engrish'. We already learned that predebut in his 'English Conversation' with Mingyu (ft. Dino) and also his famous quote when he and Joshua were making kimbap (with the rest of the group) 'Kimbap be kidding'. Also, in the video in accusation, Seungkwan and The8 were once again dancing and singing to a different groups song, which from what I can see (I'm not sure what the song is off the top of my head; it could be Monsta X for all I know) uses the word 'girl' a lot, so it's unsurprising that he was at least trying to say 'my girl', which could've been a lyric to the song, as there is honestly NO reason he'd randomly say the n word.

Seungkwan is only 17 internationally (despite being 19 in Korea as of the new years), and while a lot of teenagers swear nowadays, Seungkwan is definitely not the type of person (flamboyant, random, etc.) swear on camera, let alone in English, which he's not the best at in the first place. We also know Seungkwan to be a person who most likely loves to sing, be it his own song, or someone elses, which is what Seungkwan and The8 were mainly doing in that room anyways. So it's clear that if the song in the corner that was playing had a lot of the word 'girl' in it, he was obviously just singing another line from the song.

I'm not sure if I need anymore evidence. Or 'evidence' since I'm not really proving much. I'm just ranting like an overly obsessed fan who doesn't like the fact that her babies are suddenly being dissed for something without proper video evidence or knowledge. Even if 2Seung did say the n word, all you have to do it point it out, maybe just enough that Joshua and Vernon can spot it happening and talk to the members about it. And even if the members DID all react and keep repeating what S.Coups said, does that necessarily mean they know what it means? They're Korean, and I doubt derogatory terms are taught in school there, even if they have heard the term in English raps. I'm trying to take this as seriously as I can, but it seems like other people aren't. Because while I get where people are coming from, I just feel bad for the members themselves, who probably got the worst start to their year ever, since I'm sure these misunderstandings have caused a lot of Seventeen fans to stop stanning Seventeen, especially the black fans.

This is why sometimes I wish I was the only international kpop fan. I don't get offended by much. Nor do I get mad much. But this really pissed me off for some reason. If you've read this far, I'd assume you also care about this issue. I'll leave my opinion on this here, as I already wrote a much shorter opinion with much less information on tumblr (it was 2am and I wanted to rant, but also finish it as quick as possible), that also mentioned a tiny bit on the issue with Hoshi and a 9 second video. For that post you can click here.

(shameless plug to lighten up the mood: feel free to follow my tumblr for more random kpop and art. I'd even be willing to do writing on there too)