His description of the BTS ARMY as “fanatical followers of a musical cash machine” additionally perpetuates the sexist, ageist stereotypes of BTS fans as hysterical teenage girls who are easily manipulated by marketing tactics and incapable of distinguishing music based on its artistic merit. Matuschik’s own statement to Buzzfeed Germany makes it impossible to glean any sincere contrition from his or Bayern 3’s responses. The intent of Matuschik’s comments is irrelevant, because they were largely perceived as hurtful and perpetuated damaging stereotypes. And as hundreds of thousands of fans noted on social media, racism is not an opinion. It’s not an apology at all it’s gaslighting. This is merely damage control intended to absolve the offending party of wrongdoing and put the burden on those who rightfully took offense at Matuschik’s statements. Like countless offenders before him, Matuschik and Bayern 3 apologized if his remarks hurt anybody. Matuschik’s on-air tirade followed the same template set by the aforementioned examples: Make racist comments, feign ignorance (and innocence) when rightfully called out, play the victim in the face of criticism, and finally, issue a halfhearted non-apology.

They’re already racist when taken individually, but cumulatively, they perpetuate a dangerous anti-Asian bias that is prevalent across numerous cultures and, as Jae-Ha Kim notes in her excellent Teen Vogue piece, often results in physical violence toward Asian people worldwide.

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