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On June 2020, at Trump Tulsa rally, only 6,200 advocates showed up at the 19,000-capacity venue (Evelyn, 2020). This was due to an anti-Trump protest planned and initiated only by young TikTokers and K-pop fans. The way K-pop fandoms encouraged civics to buy fake tickets and not show up infers K-pop fandoms’ power in the United States politics.

Although many scholarships deal with Anti-Trump groups (Andrews et al., 2018; Meyer & Tarrow, 2018; Schroeder et al., 2020; Skocpol & Tervo, 2019), there are still a few studies regarding K-pop fans engaging with Trump-resistance movement. Therefore, this research will fill this gap.

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K-pop fans in a stadium

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Empty seats at the Tulsa rally

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This research analyzes CNN articles that cover Bangtan Boys (BTS) and K-pop fans’ political protests against President Trump and his administration. Specifically, six articles are examined that were published from May 2020, when Black Lives Matter movement spurred. This study conducts a discourse analysis.

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With nearly 30 million (September 2020 est.) Instagram followers and three Guinness World Records with their song “Boy with Luv”, BTS is one of the most successful K-pop boy bands in the globe.

Many research acknowledge K-pop fandom’s function as a public sphere and its engagement in political activism (Brough & Shresthova, 2012; Burwell & Boler, 2008; Chauvel, 2014; Hinck, 2012; Jenkins, 2018).

CNN news has a big impact on the audiences during essential political events such as presidential election, which is referred to as the “CNN effect” (Tari & Emamzadeh, 2018, p. 78).

This study applies discourse analysis because it aims to examine how both textual and contextual affordances of CNN articles demonstrate actions of fandoms.

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The keywords BTS, K-pop, anti-Trump, Black Lives Matter, and protest were typed in the search engines of CNN website. Six articles were selected regarding BTS and K-pop fans’ anti-Trump protests. Through discourse analysis, this research probes how the text and contexts of these articles are used to describe the object's political activism. Specifically, the lexical choices will be examined.

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The CNN articles were found to be employing words that have positive connotation to describe BTS and K-pop fandoms’ participation in anti-Trump movement, and negative connotation to portray pro-Trump activisms. For example, in the article “K-pop band BTS explains why they decided to give $1 million to Black Lives Matter”, the purpose to BTS and its fan ARMY's donation to the Black Lives Matter was to make the world a "just" and "better" place (Johnson, 2020, para.10). On the other hand, For the issue of killing of George Floyd by the police, words such as "racism" and "violent" were exploited to describe the act of the police force (Johnson, 2020, para. 4).

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The CNN articles take a positive stance on BTS and K-pop fandom’s anti-Trump movement. This was done by choosing positive lexicon to praise K-pop artist and fans' engagement and support in anti-Trump movement. Moreover, the comparative use of connotation in respective sides highlights the articles positive position towards BTS and K-pop fans’ participation in anti-Trump activism.

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Andrews, K. T., Caren, N., & Browne, A. (2018). Protesting trump. Mobilization: An International Quarterly, 23(4), 393-400. https://doi.org/10.17813/1086-671X-23-4-393

Brough, M. M., & Shresthova, S. (2012). Fandom meets activism: Rethinking civic and political participation. Transformative Works and Cultures, 10, 1-27. https://doi.org/10.3983/twc.2012.0303

Burwell, C., & Boler, M. (2008). Calling on the Colbert Nation: Fandom, politics and parody in an age of media convergence. Electronic Journal of Communication, 18(2), 3-25. http://www.cios.org/www/wjc/ejcpublic/018/2/01845.html

Chauvel, A. (2014). Fandom and civic engagement: From fan fiction to fandom led social causes. In A. Chauvel, N. Lamerichs, & J. Seymour (Eds.), Fan studies: Researching popular audiences (pp. 99-109). Inter-Disciplinary Press.

Evelyn, K. (2020, June 21). Trump 'played' by K-pop fans and TikTok users who disrupted Tulsa rally. The Guardians. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/21/trump-tulsa-rally-scheme-k-pop-fans-tiktok-users

Hinck, A. (2012). Theorizing a public engagement keystone: Seeing fandom’s integral connection to civic engagement through the case of the Harry Potter Alliance. Transformative Works and Cultures, 10. https://doi.org/10.3983/twc.2012.0311

Jenkins, H. (2018). Fandom, negotiation, and participatory culture. In P. Booth (Eds.), A Companion to Media Fandom and Fan Studies (pp. 11-26). Wiley-Blackwell. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119237211.ch1

Johnson, L. M. (2020, October 5). K-pop band BTS explains why they decided to give $1 million to Black Lives Matter. CNN. Retrieved from https://edition.cnn.com/2020/10/03/entertainment/bts-trnd/index.html

Meyer, D. S., & Tarrow, S. (Eds.). (2018). The Resistance: The Dawn of the Anti-Trump Opposition Movement. Oxford University Press.

Schroeder, S., Currin, E., Washington, E., Curcio, R., & Lundgren, L. (2020). “Like, share, comment,” and learn: Transformative learning in online anti-Trump resistance communities. Adult Education Quarterly, 70(2), 119-139.

Skocpol, T., & Tervo, C. (Eds.). (2019). Upending American Politics: Polarizing Parties, Ideological Elites, and Citizen Activists from the Tea Party to the Anti-Trump Resistance. Oxford University Press.

Tari, Z. G., & Emamzadeh, Z. (2018). An analysis of the media messages during the 2016 US presidential election: A thematic comparison between CNN news and Donald Trump's Tweets. Journal of Politics and Law.11(2). 78-87. https://doi.org/10.5539/jpl.v11n2p78