[EXCLUSIVE] Interview with Fiestar Jei!

Here at Antikpopfangirl, we pride ourselves on cutting edge journalism and truthful, unbiased reporting. We won't lie to you like Brian Williams and we certainly won't quit on you to go host a mainstream talk show like Stephen Colbert.

No, AKF readers, we're dedicated to being unironic champions of the One True Way to appreciate KPop and all things KPop-related -- with copious amounts of MS Paint dick pics, juvenile masturbatory jokes, and shameless cackling from the depths of our mothers' basements while our fingers are practically stained with the very integrity we hold so dear. Or Cheetos, it's been a long time since we've last washed our hands.

With that said, our reputation, like that of any notorious public figure on the Internet, has recently come under fire by a group of well-intentioned watchdogs dedicated to policing the content we put out despite their stated desire to ignore everything we do. Don't worry, folks, we've definitely taken notice and you shouldn't feel the need to hide yourselves like some KPop idols trying to donate to charity!

In order to clear the air and hopefully start taking a step in a direction we all can be proud of, I've taken the opportunity to call in some favors to schedule an interview with longtime reader Fiestar's Jei about life and AKF in order to show rather just tell you that we're just as great of a KPop site as any other. You can think of us like a click-baitless Koreaboo or an Allkpop with morals or a Netizenbuzz without the cesspool they call a comments section.

Proof shot of 100% authenticity.

Hi, Jei! Thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to talk to us, I know idol life can be pretty crazy.

Of course! When I heard about the big "scandal" going on online about you, I was more than happy to speak to you guys. I've been such a long time fan, I just wanted to give back to the site that has meant so much to me throughout the years.

How long have you been a reader?

Since the very beginning! As I'm sure you and the other readers know all too well, trainee life is extremely limiting and often times downright oppressive. I knew I really wanted to be a singer because it's been one of my dreams, so that was just something I learned to accept and endure. But I won't lie, some of the articles you've written have really picked me up when I felt down or ready to quit.

Wow, that's awesome! Which articles have made the biggest impact on you, if you'd like to share?

I think Kpopalypse's Fashion Class article had one of the biggest takeaways for me. As a member of a nugu group just debuting, it's really hard to stand out from the members of your own group let alone the sea of idols out there. Fiestar had achieved middling success since our debut in  2012, but we were fast approaching the dreaded end of our 3-year grace period and I knew we had to do something different to turn things around.

Wait, "3-year grace period?"

Yeah, it's kind of an unspoken rule of thumb in the industry that if a group hasn't had any successful hits or any kind of notoriety within the first three years of their debut, they're pretty much never going to have any success. Many groups disband long before that, but for the bigger companies that can afford it, they usually only give you 3 years to make back their initial investment in you.

With that virtual Sword of Damocles hanging over our heads, I had to take things into my own hands. "One More" was a legitimately good song that all the members liked, and from the initial buzz flying around the blogosphere, netizen response was poised to be a great one. (Thanks for featuring us on your annual Best of List, by the way!) Unfortunately, the actual sales and Youtube hits were not looking as rosy as we had hoped they would be from the initial projections. It was then that Kpopalypse released his article and I knew we were doing something terribly wrong.

Our stylists had the right idea of using stripes to enhance our appeal, but they were going in the completely wrong direction and were of terrible width to do anything they were supposed to do. In fact, they were probably making us look like wide and fat whores like *name redacted for security concerns* Thankfully, I was able to convince the company to buy us new outfits for our promotional tours, and the rest was history.

That's an amazing story, and I'm glad everything worked out for you! Is it safe to say that you don't feel objectified or a target of misogeny here at AKF?

I think Kpopalypse put it best in his article about KPop boobs.

Just because we're appreciating boobs as objects for their aesthetics and treasured fap-value doesn't mean we're depreciating the worth of our beloved k-pop idols as human beings.  It's both technically possible and biologically inevitable for most people to be both a fully-rounded person AND a sexual object at the same time and if YOU think that's shameful or not right or impossible then that says a hell of a lot more about YOUR sexism, slut-shaming, virgin/whore complex and wanting to bend the will of others to your own narcissistic way of thinking than it does about anything that I believe.  Tsk tsk you fucking pseudo-feminist social-concern-trolling hypocrite.

If anything, I'm deeply flattered and thankful to even be noticed at all. Like I mentioned before, it's hard to get attention in this oversaturated market so I always feel blessed to even have a large number of fans who care enough about me and the group to take fancams or write articles on us. Look at EXID for instance, they were pretty unnoticed since their debut until Hani's fancam went viral! In fact, they were straight up hated if Netizenbuzz was anything to go by. If Pharkil had been anything like the so-called PC-Police or Malay Warriors want people to be, we would have never gotten that fancam and who knows where EXID would be now.

I'm surprised people are making a big fuss about this. How many times have people complained that their super talented and super hot faves deserved more attention than they got before being forced to fade into obscurity? As they say in showbiz, any publicity is good publicity, and there's far worse fates out there than being appreciated for being attractive by the internet.

Do you think it's hypocritical of AKF to oppose these allegations?

Not at all. AKF is quite open about their love for various girls and body parts, to put it lightly. You don't make any attempt to call it something it's not. People who don't like that can go visit other sites instead, to be honest.

Actually, I think the same people who run/support sites objectifying male idols the same exact way should take a long look in the mirror before casting stones from their glass houses.

What about the allegations that AKF is racist?

I don't think most of these people understand what racism actually is. I don't care what their so-called dictionary definitions say about what it means, anyone with an actual brain or original thought in their minds knows that racism is systematic and institutional. It's BOTH power and prejudice used by the majority to disadvantage the minority. You have to have institutional power to be racist. Minorities are not in a position of power in this country (or any country, that's why they call them minorities) to be racist.

Contrary to popular belief, the authors (yes, plural) are not white males in their late 20s or 30s writing from their basements. Over half are female, and most if not all are minorities or at least half-minority themselves. I may not be a writer or have full knowledge of the behind the scenes of running the website, but it doesn't take a linguistics expert to tell that each author is their own different person with their own unique personalities and opinions, and not just a schizophrenic fragment of Antikpopfangirl [the author and founder]'s personality. They can be prejudiced, but not racist.

So is AKF prejudiced?

 Yes and no. Everyone has prejudices or preconceived notions about race, culture, individuals, other countries, animals, sports, etc. Let's not pretend we're all saints, on one level of consciousness or other, we all have prejudices. It's normal. What's wrong is letting your prejudices stop you from making your own conclusions. I don't think AKF has ever made sweeping generalizations like people say you are. In fact, wouldn't you say the people blindly accusing AKF of these things are more prejudiced than you are? I mean most of the things being thrown around right now are clearly debunked in the FAQ.

And people still think Antikpopfangirl is run by one girl no less. If people took the time to actually stop and form their own opinions from more than a superficial skimming of the articles, they'd realize that much at least.

If AKF isn't racist or sexist, that only leaves homophobic then right?

To be quite honest, if people can't tell what the difference between satire and homophobia actually is, they probably shouldn't be on the Internet. If you've seen the truly vile things real homophobic people write and propagate on the Internet, you wouldn't be making those accusations about AKF.

Doesn't Zaku [a male author at AKF] get made fun of all the time for liking TOP or male idols a little too much for certain people to call normal?

What's your take on AKF and its place in the KPop blogosphere in general?

My understanding of AKF is that it's a site for people to express their opinions about KPop in a rational way. You all clearly know a great deal about the industry and the scene, why care so much about it if you hated it like some people claim? I think you're trying to make enjoyment of KPop a better thing rather than a back-and-forth war of fandoms or delusional insanity. You don't have to go very far to see how bad it can be out there.

If people don't like your opinions or writing style, they should just make their own blogs instead of sitting there on their computers complaining about it. Isn't that how you got your start in the first place? I heard Antikpopfangirl was dissatisfied with the way T-ara Diadem was being run, so he made this blog to talk about T-ara and KPop the way he and anyone else wanted.

That's exactly right!

See? There's an example of putting your money where your mouth is, so to speak. At any rate, I think you're all doing a fine job. In a world where the 3 biggest KPop news sites are full of sensationalism, click-bait, and petty immoral tactics, I don't see how AKF can be any worse.

You know, we get compared to AsianJunkie or Netizenbuzz pretty often.

Is that so? I don't see why. Netizenbuzz is a straight up translation site for netizen comments, as if anyone cared what a bunch of random people on the equivalent of Yahoo! News or Youtube comments cares about anything.

I can see why people make the AsianJunkie comparison though, you both cover KPop news with a similar irreverent tongue-in-cheek humor style. But at least there aren't a ton of ads all over AKF.

Thank you again for agreeing to do this interview with us!

No problem, it was my privilege.

Do you have any last words or thoughts you'd like to share with our readers?

I'd like to thank all of my fans for loving me and giving me their support to this day, and I hope they will give as much love to Antikpopfangirl as they do me! Always keep the FISH!

If you don't agree with my opinions or those of Antikpopfangirl, well...