Spanish Magazine Ridiculing Death of SHINee‘s Jonghyun Sparks Outrage
By Ryan General
A satirical magazine in Spain earned the ire of K-pop fans after apparently mocking the death of
El Jueves, a weekly magazine based in Barcelona, published a comic in Spanish that reportedly used Jonghyun’s death to do a commentary on the K-pop industry.
Jonghyun was 27 when he died in an apparent suicide that devastated millions of his fans last year.
The comic, which many found offensive, was translated into English by Twitter user @CintiaDero to call attention on how it joked about sensitive topics such as sexual abuse, exploitation, depression and suicide.
It also criticized members of Korean boybands — from their styles, performances and even their fandoms.
CintiaDero, a fan of SHINee, also highlighted the comic’s use of the word “Pinypons” to describe Jonghyun and other K-pop artists.
Pinypons, which refer to plastic toys, implied “the idea of idols being plastic, mass-produced” dolls.
A petition by another fan to shut the magazine down has so far generated over 22,000 signatures on Change.org as of this writing.
Some fans were also reminded of a comic by artist Raul Salazar which he posted on the day Jonghyun died.
In the post, he accused Jonghyun of trying to join the “27 Club,” a group of artists who died at the age of 27, including Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison.
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