On the 29th, Suga did a live stream on V app and talked to fans about his new mixtape Agust D (D-2). While previewing the third track 'What Do You Think', a man is heard speaking in English before Suga begins the song. It turns out that the voice in question is an excerpt from a 1977 sermon by cult leader Jim Jones in Jonestown, a remote settlement in Guyana. Jim Jones directed a mass murder-suicide of 909 people with 304 of the fatalities being children. Jim Jones is also known to be close to North Korea and frequently shares North Korean propaganda with his followers.
The sampled sermon at the beginning of Suga's song states, "though you are dead, yet you shall live, and he that liveth and believeth shall never die."
The intro caused controversy online and and the hashtag "Jim Jones" began trending on Twitter worldwide.
Netizens are in deep anger that Suga had sampled speech from such a controversial figure as the intro for his song and ARMY had knowingly shielded him.
Jim Jones. A man who forcibly made over 900 people including children drink poison. That’s who he wanted to be on his mixtape.... https://t.co/zZKVDQu8mt— ¥🤍 (@pink_romantics) May 30, 2020
so suga from bts sampled jim jones in one of his recent songs... jim jones who was a MASS MURDERER AND CULT LEADER WHO HE USED FOR AN AESTHETIC, BUT Y'ALL ARE STILL DECLARING IT AS A MISTRANSLATION...— . (@eunjidykes) May 30, 2020
jim jones was a violent cult leader, who murdered 900 ppl most of whom were black ppl. even if yoongi apologizes, black armys have full on right to be upset and not accept. i found out about it just now, why some of u known it since last year and REMAINED SILENT??don’t excuse him— milf hunter⁷ (@childgrave) May 30, 2020
there are literally millions of songs to sample but suga/yoongi/agust d used a sermon from jim jones, a cult leader that killed around 900 people. no matter what the song's message was, YOU DO NOT INCLUDE A MASS MURDERER IN A SONG. it's idiotic and extremely insensitive.— franzi (@mommytozaki) May 30, 2020
Fans stated that Jim Jones was anti-Korean and Suga had included the speech into the song for that very reason. ARMY explained that he used the controversial speech to make a point.
EDUCATE YOURSELF. UNDERSTAND THE CONTEXT. OTHERS HAVE USED CONTROVERSIAL SPEECHES BEFORE TO MAKE POINTS. https://t.co/Myfd6ISGWN— SN⁷TheGenreisBTS⟭⟬ (@2k20isameme) May 30, 2020
In the meantime, Big Hit has yet to make a statement to address the growing controversy.
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