On November 13, stylist Kim Wook responded to questions about his old photo shoot with BTS.

Earlier this week, a Jewish human rights group drew attention to a photo shoot from 2015 where RM was photographed wearing a hat with a symbol of the Nazi Party and a concert in which flags with symbols that were reportedly similar to the swastika were waved. The human rights group also referenced the recent controversy over a shirt that BTS’s Jimin wore and called for an apology from BTS as well as their management agency.

In the phone interview, stylist Kim Wook denied the allegations that the hat in question was his own property. “It was not my own hat, nor was it something that the media outlet responsible for the photo shoot had prepared,” he said. “I remember this photo shoot clearly because it was the first one I did after going independent.”

He continued, “As I remember it, we were collaborating with a brand for the photo shoot. It is standard practice to write in the caption that something is the stylist’s property when we’re using an artist’s own clothes or an unofficial sponsorship product.”

The reporter then asked if the hat had been an official sponsorship product. Kim Wook responded, “It was 100 percent not an official sponsorship product. If I didn’t know about an accessory, then it was an unofficial sponsorship product. I remember all the clothes that I put them in. None of the BTS members were wearing a hat when they first came into the studio for the photo shoot. It follows that the hat was not one of their personal accessories. If I had to guess, I’d say that we just ended up using a product that happened to be in the studio at the time.”

When asked if he was upset by the controversy, he said, “I am receiving a lot of calls about the old photo shoot with BTS but I am not being attacked by fans or having my privacy invaded.”

A source from an unnamed magazine confirmed the stylist’s words, saying, “Usually a studio that many different media outlets use will have lots of products lying around. Photographers will also sometimes ask an artist to put on things that have nothing to do with the stylist’s personal opinions.”

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