Korean Netizens React To Allegations Of Exploitation Surrounding IU And BTS V’s “Love Wins All” MV

Netizens discussed whether IU and BTS V‘s “Love Win All” music video is exploitative.

On January 24, several news outlets reported that some audiences felt IU’s latest music video was insulting to the disabled community.

The allegations stem from the fact that in the music video, IU and V play a deaf and blind person, respectively. The music video shows the two stars as lovers who try to escape persecution from a cube that many feel symbolizes hate.

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According to reports, some netizens felt that the disabled couple were portrayed as wishing they did not have their disabilities and idealized abled couples. The accusations focused on one particular scene in which IU and V saw themselves in a different reality through a camcorder. In the scene, the couple is portrayed without their disability.

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Netizens reacted to the allegations with mixed reactions, with some agreeing that the music video was insensitive, while others disagreed entirely.

• Watch the movie before spewing your nonsense.
• Care about them in real life. You guys don’t care about the disabled in your everyday life, but when it comes to criticizing (IU and V), all of a sudden, you care, lol. The disabled community has it hard in real life; please care about that instead.
• Am I f@cking idiot? Is the music video about a wonderful world in which no one is disabled? I thought it was about a couple trying to escape death, which is represented by the cube, who reminisces about a beautiful memory together before dying. I never thought this could be manipulated into being insulting to the disabled.
• I think it is crazy how people write hate comments to say that the music video doesn’t represent hate, just like how people reacted when the LGBTQ+ community expressed their disapproval.
• I think (IU and V) need to accept criticism from the disabled community if they felt the music video was insensitive… I see that a lot of people are dismissing their voices, although I think there are a lot of people who are criticizing the stars just to criticize them.
• Call me naive, but I think saying that the music video is insulting to the disabled and LGBTQ+ community is going too far.
• Seeing how there are so many people in the country who can’t see what’s wrong with the music video it is no wonder how the two biggest stars could release a music video like that.
• I didn’t think much of it when I watched it, but to label those who felt insulted by it as crazy isn’t right. Seeing how actually people from the disabled community have come out to say the music video made them uncomfortable.

This isn’t the first time that the music video has faced scrutiny. Recently, a stylist from HYBE came out to accuse the music video as exploitative. Read more about it in the link below.

HYBE Stylist Criticizes IU’s “Love Wins All” MV With BTS’s V For Its “Exploitative” Message