Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images for dcp

The BTS Army, fans of the internationally beloved megaband BTS, is full of investigators. They’re video and photo editors. They’re defense lawyers. And today, they are media-criticism assassins, armed with iPhones and unlimited data. The stans dived deep into Seth Abramovitch’s BTS profile for The Hollywood Reporter, exposing inaccuracies, culturally insensitive implications, and generally calling out THR for sending someone who, on top of having little to no prior knowledge about BTS, openly admitted that in the article.

The Army is known for being passionate. They already have beef with The Hollywood Reporter for calling BTS’s label, Big Hit Entertainment, a “sausage mill,” so the ice was just thinning. Crack! Among other things, they’re now taking issue with the suggestion that BTS is competitive with other bands and the implication that SHINee band member Kim Jonghyun’s suicide was a result of K-pop’s rigorous “Hunger Games” trainee programs. And just because they have the time, they’ve also taken issue with Abramovitch’s old Gawker posts, especially one where he used a slur. Gawker cannot catch a break.

The Army’s major problems with the article target aspects of the K-pop industry that are foreign (in some cases, quite literally. Stans aren’t happy with Abramovitch’s explanation of the word maknae) to the Western music industry and require nuance. Because it’s not like K-pop fans are blind to the industry’s faults and are raging after THR for no reason. They just want to be taken seriously and treated fairly. So, while it’s fun to watch stans host a live roast on your Twitter feed, what they’re actually getting at (and what writer Jae-Ha Kim points to in a Twitter thread) is the need for knowledgable, preferably Korean-American writers to be flown to Seoul to drink soju with the boys of BTS so that stans can make fan edits of the photographs instead of writing incredibly sick burns like the ones below.

My cat could write a better article bitch — Missing Namjoon on daily basis (@joonienammu) October 2, 2019

that’s not how you spell ‘big disappointment’, sir — taetae (@sorreev) October 2, 2019

I understand you're The "Hollywood" Reporter, but if your publication enjoys privileging its Western identity so much, please refrain from doing articles about Asian entertainment. Unless you send reporters from those actual cultures to write them, but wow that's a long-shot... — alapadma (@alapadma2) October 2, 2019

Thanks but no thanks keep it. Better left in drafts. If this is how you get people to talk about you congrats you won — 💕Boy With Luv💕 (@armys_jo) October 2, 2019

"actually," says suga, "BTS stands for BiTch Shuthefuckup," he said, before proceeding to whack me over the head with an old, korean chair — 𝕖𝕝𝕝𝕚𝕠𝕥 𝕗𝕣𝕠𝕞 𝕓𝕓𝕪 𝕘𝕒𝕟𝕘 (@elliotsang) October 2, 2019

The xenophobia in this article is appalling yet not surprising. God forbid someone from another country succeed & surpass anyone in the US right? I feel sorry for THR bc they have all the resources in the world to make this an accurate article & they blew it. — 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻𝟱𝟮 (@sharynss) October 2, 2019

The article reeks of insecurity i can feel it — fluffy kook⚪ [MINI-HIATUS] (@kookieeboi) October 2, 2019

They really did journalism to write utter nonsense like this ...?? — Joon'sMoonpie 🐨🌛 (@Joonie_Moonpie) October 2, 2019

im so tired of dealing with this same thing over and over again......can western reporters just grow a brain already — 𝓶𝓸𝓰𝓼 ✰ | 🐰🐰🐰 (@bumblegoo) October 2, 2019

man what did bts do to you we know youre bad at your job but still — p. ¦ ≧▽≦ (@BadbyeVelvet) October 2, 2019

no, let them print their projected numbers. let them lose all the money they put into it. — Rachel ★ T-24 days 👀 BTS (@rachmax_007) October 2, 2019

Keep your mouth shut and never waste our time again Sardine-Seth . — 🎃𝐸 𝓇 𝒾 𝒸 𝒶🎃 Inosuke protector (@yeonn_tann) October 2, 2019