A Texas TV anchor is under fire for making an on-air joke about K-pop icons BTS that fans are calling “disgusting and just embarrassing.”
During FOX34’s Good Day Lubbock broadcast, anchor James Eppler and his co-anchors were covering the band’s recent collaboration with Oreo when Eppler made his controversial comments. The cookies feature wafers in BTS’ signature purple with 13 unique embossed designs and a Hotteok-flavored (brown sugar, honey and cinnamon pancakes) filling. If you’re asking why there are 13 designs, the number is significant because the band is celebrating 13 years since their debut on June 13, 2013.
Three of the cookie designs spell out a message: “Dear BTS Army, every twist leads to us.” But here’s where the broadcast took a turn. Eppler, a Lubbock native and Texas Tech adjunct instructor, suddenly claimed that when fans put all 13 designs together, it spells out “death to America,” which garnered a surprised reaction from his co-hosts. The moment quickly spread across social media, with fans outraged over what they believe are racist comments aimed at the global superstars.
“Spreading misinformation about an asian boyband on a news show knowing damn well how America is treating minorities right now is really weird,” one BTS fan said in a post on X. Another ARMY (the name for the band’s fandom) said the comments “normalize racism and misinformation. It’s unprofessional, offensive, and defamatory.” Many just can’t understand why the joke was made, with one fan on Instagram writing, “Dropping the phrase death to America over cookies is an invalid crashout.”
BTS comprises seven members — singers Jung Kook, Jimin, V and Jin alongside rappers RM, Suga and j-hope. The band themselves have been vocal about anti-Asian hate, as they even made a trip to the White House in 2022 to speak on a surge of hate crimes as well as the importance of representation and equality.
MySA reached out to FOX34 for comment but had not heard back at the time of publication.