KEY POINTS
- Victoria Villarruel is currently running for Vice President in the 2023 Argentine general elections
- One of her 2020 tweets against K-Pop group BTS resurfaced online leading to the elections
- A Reddit user exposed Villaruel’s other allegedly xenophobic tweets about K-Pop in a thread
Argentine politician, lawyer and activist Victoria Eugenia Villarruel, who goes by the X username @VickyVillarruel, is currently under fire for her allegedly xenophobic tweets against BTS and K-Pop in general.
As the 2023 Argentine general elections draw near, her past tweets about BTS and K-Pop resurfaced online. In particular, she allegedly responded to one tweet in 2020, saying, “La banda BTS tiene nombre de obra social,” which, when translated, meant, “The BTS band has a social work name.” Other translations indicated that the user said BTS’ name sounded like the name of a health insurance company.
Villarruel allegedly responded to the tweet and wrote, “O de enfermedad de transmisión sexual,” which meant, “Or sexually transmitted disease.”
Her alleged 2020 tweet resurfaced again, gaining the attention of BTS fans. As of press time, Villarruel’s tweet has over 5,200 retweets and almost 1,000 comments.
Among the many fans who requoted Villarruel’s alleged xenophobic tweet, one wrote, “Apparently she’s known for making sexist, racist, xenophobic statements in general” with the disclaimer that it’s only secondhand information.
Meanwhile, a Reddit user compiled and posted Villarruel’s allegedly xenophobic tweets about K-Pop in the past. Among the many tweets cited was when she allegedly made fun of a K-Pop idol with pink hair – Jimin.
Responding to a now-deleted tweet at the time, she said, “Oh no, I don’t like that pink-haired guy at all.”
In another cited tweet, Villarruel tweeted in Spanish, “Hahaha, I’m laughing so hard right now. If I knew you were going to react like that about a pink-haired Korean, I would’ve started teasing you earlier!”
Responding to another now-deleted post from an angry BTS fan, Villarruel tweeted, “Ask a green-haired Korean guy to throw a tranquilizer dart at you. Greetings.”
Lastly, Villarruel tweeted, “This is so toy poodle-y… no tall person listens to K-pop,” which was allegedly about body-shaming.
The Reddit post garnered over 252 upvotes and several comments on the platform, with netizens sharing their anger and disappointment about Villaruel’s past tweets. One user commented, “Why is she, a grown a– woman, beefing with K-Pop though? [I’m laughing my a– off.]”
Meanwhile, a BTS fan quipped through a meme that BTS ARMYs could stop Villarruel from getting power or influence.
Another fan tweeted, “[You all], this woman is a candidate for Vice President in Argentina, and she said this b—s— about our boys. @bts_bighit, something has to be done here! Prepare the heavy artillery. E-mails have to be sent, and K-ARMYs must be notified as well.”
Villarruel has yet to react to the attention her past tweets are getting lately ahead of the elections.