{"id":314491,"date":"2026-05-29T20:43:01","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T20:43:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/314491\/"},"modified":"2026-05-29T20:43:01","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T20:43:01","slug":"lubbock-tv-anchor-under-fire-for-disgusting-on-air-bts-joke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/314491\/","title":{"rendered":"Lubbock TV anchor under fire for &#8216;disgusting&#8217; on-air BTS joke"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">A Texas TV anchor is under fire for making an on-air joke about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mysanantonio.com\/entertainment\/article\/el-paso-bts-concert-22232160.php\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:K-pop icons BTS;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;K-pop icons BTS&quot;}\" class=\"link \">K-pop icons BTS<\/a> that fans are calling &#8220;disgusting and just embarrassing.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">During FOX34&#8217;s Good Day Lubbock broadcast, anchor James Eppler and his co-anchors were covering the band&#8217;s recent collaboration with Oreo when Eppler made his controversial comments. The cookies feature wafers in BTS&#8217; signature purple with 13 unique embossed designs and a Hotteok-flavored (brown sugar, honey and cinnamon pancakes) filling.\u00a0If you&#8217;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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Three of the cookie designs spell out a message: &#8220;Dear BTS Army, every twist leads to us.&#8221; But here&#8217;s where the broadcast took a turn.\u00a0Eppler, a Lubbock native and Texas Tech adjunct instructor, suddenly claimed that when fans put all 13 designs together, it spells out &#8220;death to America,&#8221; 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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;Spreading misinformation about an asian boyband on a news show knowing damn well how America is treating minorities right now is really weird,&#8221; one BTS fan said <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/kookyun\/status\/2059675217606447504?_gl=1*1crzv1d*_up*MQ..*_ga*NDU0MDkzMjU1LjE3Nzk5ODE1NTM.*_ga_HDH2HK2V51*czE3Nzk5ODE1NTIkbzEkZzAkdDE3Nzk5ODE1NTIkajYwJGwwJGgw*_ga_M0RHHMB0KC*czE3Nzk5ODE1NTIkbzEkZzAkdDE3Nzk5ODE1NTIkajYwJGwwJGgw*_ga_8SGXGR7JYH*czE3Nzk5ODE1NTIkbzEkZzAkdDE3Nzk5ODE1NTIkajYwJGwwJGg3NDI3NDY1NTk.\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:in a post on X;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;in a post on X&quot;}\" class=\"link \">in a post on X<\/a>. Another ARMY (the name for the band&#8217;s fandom) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/BTSDailyChile\/status\/2059723127009988734?_gl=1*1crzv1d*_up*MQ..*_ga*NDU0MDkzMjU1LjE3Nzk5ODE1NTM.*_ga_HDH2HK2V51*czE3Nzk5ODE1NTIkbzEkZzAkdDE3Nzk5ODE1NTIkajYwJGwwJGgw*_ga_M0RHHMB0KC*czE3Nzk5ODE1NTIkbzEkZzAkdDE3Nzk5ODE1NTIkajYwJGwwJGgw*_ga_8SGXGR7JYH*czE3Nzk5ODE1NTIkbzEkZzAkdDE3Nzk5ODE1NTIkajYwJGwwJGg3NDI3NDY1NTk.\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:said;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;said&quot;}\" class=\"link \">said <\/a>the comments &#8220;normalize racism and misinformation. It&#8217;s unprofessional, offensive, and defamatory.&#8221;\u00a0Many just can&#8217;t understand why the joke was made, with one fan on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DY4QpMcIF2B\/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&amp;igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ%3D%3D\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:Instagram;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Instagram&quot;}\" class=\"link \">Instagram <\/a>writing, &#8220;Dropping the phrase death to America over cookies is an invalid crashout.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">BTS comprises seven members &#8211; 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\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2022\/05\/31\/1102244756\/k-pop-stars-bts-went-to-the-white-house-to-talk-about-anti-asian-hate-crimes\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:a trip to the White House in 2022;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;a trip to the White House in 2022&quot;}\" class=\"link \">a trip to the White House in 2022<\/a> to speak on a surge of hate crimes as well as the importance of representation and equality.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">MySA reached out to FOX34 for comment but had not heard back at the time of publication.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Meanwhile, the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.foodandwine.com\/oreo-bts-collaboration-cookies-11983973\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:limited edition Oreos;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;limited edition Oreos&quot;}\" class=\"link \">limited edition Oreos<\/a> officially drop on June 8, with online preorder available June 1.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mysanantonio.com\/newsletters\/afternoon-headlines\/?utm_source=yahoo&amp;utm_medium=cta&amp;utm_campaign=textlink\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:Sign up for Afternoon Headlines, MySA&#039;s free newsletter bringing you San Antonio&#039;s top stories of the day.;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Sign up for Afternoon Headlines, MySA&#039;&quot;}\" class=\"link \">Sign up for Afternoon Headlines, MySA&#8217;s free newsletter bringing you San Antonio&#8217;s top stories of the day.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">This article originally published at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mysanantonio.com\/entertainment\/article\/bts-lubbock-fox34-tv-anchor-controversy-22280534.php?utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=yahoo_syndication\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:Lubbock TV anchor under fire for &#039;disgusting&#039; on-air BTS joke;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Lubbock TV anchor under fire for &#039;&quot;}\" class=\"link \">Lubbock TV anchor under fire for &#8216;disgusting&#8217; on-air BTS joke<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Texas TV anchor is under fire for making an on-air joke about K-pop icons BTS that fans&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":314492,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[14545,113134,113133,21087,6837,168,170,169],"class_list":["post-314491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lubbock","tag-bts","tag-controversial-comments","tag-death-to-america","tag-getty-images","tag-james-eppler","tag-lubbock","tag-lubbock-headlines","tag-lubbock-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=314491"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314491\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/314492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=314491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=314491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=314491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}