NBC Chicago upset fans after it showed the face of BTS' rapper RM instead of the SHINee member while reporting Jonghyun's death.
- Dec 21, 2017
AceShowbiz - Despite BTS' (Bangtan Boys) recent increasing fame in the U.S., a local news station couldn't distinguish the face of the group's member RM (Rap Monster) to another South Korean singer Jonghyun's. NBC Chicago made this horrendous mistake while reporting the death of Jonghyun, who passed away at the age of 27 after committing suicide on Monday, December 18 local time.
In the broadcast, the outlet erroneously claimed that SHINee had just appeared on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" as well as at the American Music Awards, when in fact it was BTS who appeared on both shows. Playing footage from BTS' appearance on the daytime talk show, it showed a close-up shot of RM while he talked to host Ellen DeGeneres.
NBC Chicago mistakes BTS for SHINee in report about Jonghyun's death pic.twitter.com/y8EUUXcKfX
— Koreaboo (@Koreaboo) December 20, 2017
Learning of this mishap, fans were outraged. "In your hastiness and recklessness, you have inflicted insurmountable pain to people all around the world. Please reflect on how you report information, especially with sensitive news, with such a platform as yours," one wrote, adding the hashtag #NBCChicagoApologize.
Another added, "Please apologize for what you have done. It was extremely disrespectful to use Jonghyun’s story without even properly looking into it." Another fan criticized the local station, "how could you afford to make a mistake about a sensitive news like this? you didn't even give jonghyun the respect he deserves and you used a bts video that's focused on namjoon all the time, it made it seemed like it was abt him. google is free."
Some others reminded NBC Chicago that not all Asians look the same. "listen: NOT ALL ASIANS LOOK THE SAME this is pure disrespect towards both groups and jonghyun it only takes 3 seconds to go do your damn research on google," read the comment.
One other similarly posted on Twitter, "@nbcchicago this is clearly unprofessional. do asians really look the same to you? do proper research. fix yourselves. apologize to SHINee and shawols."
Realizing its big mistake, NBC Chicago later apologized. "Yesterday, while reporting on the death of Kim Jong-hyun, a member of the popular South Korean boy band SHINee, NBC 5 mistakenly aired video of the band BTS during our morning newscast," the outlet wrote on its Facebook page. "We sincerely apologize for this error."
As reported before, Jonghyun died on December 18 after found unconscious in a residential hotel, after sending suicidal text messages to his sister. Police believe he died from inhaling toxic fumes as they found coal briquettes burnt on a frying pan upon arriving at the place. His family has decided not to perform autopsy.
His fans and fellow singers sent him off at a funeral at Seoul's Asan hospital on Thursday morning, December 21. His burial ground will remain private to abide by the wishes of his family.
