K-pop star raises eyebrows by wearing QAnon t-shirt for live show

K-pop stars are known for their doll-like beauty, meticulously-choreographed routines and punishing work schedules. You wouldn’t normally associate them with notorious US conspiracy theories.

And yet, that’s precisely what’s happened to one South Korean girl band member thanks to what we assume was an unfortunate wardrobe choice rather than an explicit statement.

Son Chae-young (known simply as Chaeyoung) of the nine-part group TWICE performed on MBC’s ‘Music Core’ show over the weekend sporting a cropped and cut-out leather shirt.

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Nothing too remarkable in that, you might think – the other TWICE girls were wearing similar. However, Chaeyoung’s top featured a Q-shaped cut-out of the American flag and an excerpt of the slogan: “Where We Go One, We Go All”.

In other words, it was a piece of QAnon memorabilia.

Chaeyoung performing on stage in the controversial top and backstage in a now-deleted photo posted by one of her bandmatesMBCkpop/YouTube/@thinkaboutzu/Instagram

At the heart of QAnon is the mysterious internet figure “Q” who, in 2017, posted a series of messages to 4chan claiming to be a highly placed military-political insider. “He” dished up the entirely baseless (and bonkers) theory that Donald Trump, as president, was waging a secret war against elite Satan-worshipping paedophiles, including the likes of Hillary Clinton.

QAnon is one of the most notorious conspiracy theories to come out of the United States but, understandably, it is less well-known in other parts of the world.

Hence, why we’re assuming that Chaeyoung innocently donned the top without giving thought to the meaning behind its message.

However, she, her TWICE bandmates and the group’s record label, JYP Entertainment, must be watching anxiously to see whether the controversy over her outfit choice negatively impacts sales of their new album ‘Ready to Be’.

Indy100 has contacted JYP Entertainment for comment.

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