On February 24, 2021, on German radio station Bayern 3, after playing BTS’s version of Coldplay’s ‘Fix You’, host Matthias Matuschik compared on-air BTS to coronavirus. He called the version of the song “blasphemy” and said the group was “a piece of sh*t for which hopefully there will also be a vaccine soon.”
After many backlash from social media, accusing Matuschik of racism, the man mitigated an apology saying: “I have nothing against South Korea. You can not accuse me of xenophobia just because this boy band is from South Korea… I have a car from South Korea. I have the coolest car there is. So,, I don’t get it“.
The fans found this apology to be lukewarm at best, so it did not fix the situation. As of May 27, Matuschik was fired as the host of the show. The man got a job elsewhere doing a local Bavarian music podcast starting in late June.
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This is considered a major blow to his career, because instead of running a 3 hour show 3 times a week, the podcast will only run once or twice per month. Bayern 3, the company that was in charge of the man, however, stated that the change has no correlation with the reaction that Matuschik received, saying:
“There is no direct connection to the accusations of racism that host Matthias Matuschik had unleashed in February on the K-pop band BTS. At the time, Matuschik was angry that the Korean band had covered a Coldplay hit, insulting the artists. Matuschik and Bayern 3 then apologized, however, we already took our forecasts.”
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