Anna Good
Oli London is a white influencer from Britain who is infamous for undergoing over 30 plastic surgeries to look like BTS singer Park Ji-min.
London, who uses they/them pronouns, calls themselves “transracial” in the sense that they want to be ethnically Korean. The term is defined as “involving or including people from different races, especially involving parents who are a different race to their adopted child,” but some people are now attempting to redefine the word to mean that they are a different race other than the one they were born as, such as with Oli London.
However, the British influencer has recently posted a video to their YouTube channel apologizing to the K-pop singer and the greater Asian community, describing their behavior as “wrong and unhealthy” and “obsessive.”
London has undergone everything from eye surgery to liposuction to appear like their favorite BTS singer, and went so far as to claim earlier this year that they were planning to get a penis reduction to “look more Korean,” and has understandably been accused of cultural appropriation and racist stereotyping.
London’s YouTube video, titled “APOLOGY VIDEO (My Apology to Jimin & the Asian Community),” was posted on August 29.
In the video, the influencer said, “It was wrong of me to try to emulate Ji-min in such an obsessive way. I can’t be another person, I just need to love myself.”
London went on to say that they were bullied in school as a child and when they discovered Park, they used him as a coping mechanism, seeing him as the “path to happiness” rather than learning to love themselves as they are.
They added that they had no “bad intentions” but they “realize now it wasn’t the right thing to do.”
The influencer is apparently recently married to someone they have described as a “Ji-min look-a-like,” 19-year-old Danny Richardson.
According to an interview London did with Newsweek, their husband will also be undergoing plastic surgery to look like Ji-min Park, to be paid for by London.
Additionally, they have continued to say that they wish to “live as a legally recognized Korean.”
“I changed my entire life thinking I could become as beautiful and as talented as Jimin. But I have finally come to realize this was wrong and unhealthy,” the influencer said in a statement.
London’s intentions and statements are in conflict with each other, and many are critical of the video they posted, saying that the British influencer can’t apologize while still believing that they can be considered Korean.
“You can love Korea and recognize what its culture has done for you (which I am genuinely happy for you) but that doesn’t make you Korean,” said one commenter who was critical of the apology video.