Mnet is gearing up to host its annual music awards show, “Mnet Asian Music Awards (MAMA)”. As usual, the 2019 MAMA will be hosting one of its nights in Japan, but it’s facing backlash from Koreans as many are demanding a boycott on the show held in Japan.
[#2019MAMA] MOVING TOWARD THE NEXT
BORDERLESS
Enjoy with the NEW MUSIC GRID
Time to be the PIONEER▶ https://t.co/u0VEooeyIE#MAMA #MnetAsianMusicAwards pic.twitter.com/DWIzwiT2q2
— MAMA(엠넷아시안뮤직어워즈) (@MnetMAMA) November 6, 2019
Some netizens have demanded that Mnet not host their show in Japan due to the recent political issues between Korea and Japan. Korea and Japan has a long history of a tense relationship but it has been escalating this past year due to multiple economic and political reasons. Many Koreans have been actively protesting by boycotting Japanese goods and canceling their trips to Japan.
Many celebrities have cut endorsement ties with Japanese brands as well.
In light of these boycotts, Mnet announced that after a long discussion, they decided to host their 2019 MAMA in Japan in Nagoya as their event is not related to politics. They also revealed the first lineup for their leg in Japan, featuring top stars like BTS, TWICE, GOT7, SEVENTEEN, MONSTA X, and more.
Both Mnet and the artists are facing backlash as Korean netizens began to advocate a boycott of the awards event in Japan.
“Please, let’s boycott this.. They will only learn this way”
“In this economic climate, how could they think to do this.. They’re thoughtless completely thoughtless”
“The artists should be boycotting it in the first place. What are they doing?”
“So you chose Japan in the end.. This company that completely ignores its citizens. I hope it fails completely.”
“I’m boycotting. My artists are going, and I’m sure they probably are going due to various contractual agreements but I think the best I can do is the boycott”
“We need to boycott CJ in total so that they’ll get their act together.”
— K-Netizens
The Mnet Asian Music Awards has been a popular award ceremony in K-Pop since 1999. It is hosted by Mnet, a subsidiary under CJ ENM, a large global conglomerate in the Korean entertainment industry.
