There’s a controversy going down in China right now involving TWICE and Tzuyu, and it went beyond just netizens and actually got the group cut from a TV program in China. Of course, people are absolutely blowing up at Tzuyu on Weibo, which is why she trended, and the controversy has even dragged in Jackson and TWICE’s Mina, Momo, and Sana.

The cause of all the drama is a 50-something dude named Huang An, who basically now dedicates his life to outing people from Hong Kong/Taiwan who show any indication that they don’t ballwash China like him. Huang An’s latest target, of course, is Tzuyu.

Why?

Basically, this.

The witch hunt is real, which you can tell just by the sheer amount of posts Huang An’s made about it on Weibo, like some kind of unhinged madman dropping a manifesto.

The horror, man. Tzuyu held up a Taiwanese flag during her appearance on ‘My Little Television‘ with three evil Japanese group members, which in the eyes of Chinese nationalists makes her a traitor straight-away. But also, during a brief appearance on a different television show, while Jackson identified himself as from Hong Kong-China, Tzuyu just said that she’s from Taiwan.

ILJIN SEDITIONIST TRAITOR REBEL LEADER TZUYU

—–

All jokes aside, this actually does seem like a potentially costly issue for TWICE and JYP Entertainment if it gains steam, as their shunning from Chinese TV already shows. However, in terms of this being an actual thing to be hated for right now? Uh … no.

As the situation current stands, Tzuyu is basically just caught in a nationalism crossfire between demagogues on both sides, and they’re using celebs like her to fight an ideological proxy war. That’s what it is.

I see people going around claiming this is such a complex issue, but it’s really not. Yes, the situation between China and Taiwan is a complex issue, but that’s not the issue involving Tzuyu, Jackson, and the three Japanese TWICE members. This issue is about a 50-something dude getting mad over a 16-year-old kid holding a flag (that she was probably provided by the staff), then reading hyperbolic media reports from Taiwanese media, and projecting all the China/Taiwan baggage onto said 16-year-old kid without any actual evidence of how she feels. Huang An’s pissed at Taiwanese netizens ragging on him and for the Taiwanese media being hyperbolic, so he’s raging against a teenager in revenge, basically.

Oh yeah, and then there’s this.

Pandering to the bigger market to makeup for this, perhaps? PERHAPS.

Anyway, OF COURSE he’s a hypocrite, because when are these types not?

—–

I feel bad for TWICE and Tzuyu and the others caught in the crossfire, because even if she does believe in Taiwanese independence, she doesn’t deserve this. But more than any “debate” or “controversy” over this “scandal”, the only thing that I’m taking away from this is Huang An is a hypocritical douchebag and is a rather pathetic individual.