A printing company in Russia has allegedly rejected to print images of K-pop boyband BTS, claiming that images of the band would cause children “to become perverts”.
According to the Russian Times, the owners of PinkyPop Café, a K-pop-themed establishment in the Russian city of Ekaterinburg, had claimed that they had ordered images of K-pop groups BTS and Stray Kids to be printed as greeting cards, banners and several other merchandise.
However, in a series of now-deleted Instagram Stories, the café explained that their order was purportedly turned down by the printing company after the latter saw its contents. “We discussed all the work and details, and placed our first order,” the owners wrote. “After seeing the photos of the bands BTS and Stray Kids, which they were supposed to print, they began to ignore us.”
The PinkyPop Café later published supposed text messages (as archived by Super in Russian) with the printing supplier, in which the supplier asked, “Do I understand correctly that these people have a non-traditional orientation?” The representative of the printing company then declared that they will not be going through with the order, claiming that the group are not “hiding their orientation”.
The supplier reportedly continued to chastise the café, asking if they wanted “[their] children to become perverts”, adding that it would be “stupid to support something that would leave you with no grandchildren”.
According to Russian news outlet Super, the printing company initially declined to respond to the allegations, however the company’s head later told press that the establishment had “enough ‘normal’ clients to be able to choose who to work with and who not to”.
In 2013, Russia had introduced a law that banned that the “promotion of non-traditional sexual values among minors”, as part of a bill that sought to protect children from abuse and prevented the erosion of “family values”, per the Russian Times.
In defense of these measures, President Vladimir Putin had argued that the law targets “gay propaganda”, adding that it had “nothing to do persecuting individuals for their sexual orientation”.
In other BTS news, the group have released the music video for their new song ‘Permission To Dance’. The track, which was co-written by Ed Sheeran, is also featured on the newly released CD of their latest English-language single ‘Butter’. In a four-star review, NME’s Rhian Daly described the song as “an ode to the liberating, healing power of music”.
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