Trading card showing K-pop band BTS beaten and bruised is denounced as violent and racist; issuer Topps removes it and apologises

The card was part of a supposedly humorous pack issued after the Grammy Awards, where BTS performed but missed out on the music industry’s big awards

Commenters online linked its imagery with the wave of anti-Asian hate crime sweeping the US, including six women shot dead in Atlanta massage parlours this week

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K-pop boy band BTS were depicted on a Topps trading card beaten and bruised. Commenters online called the depictiion violent and racist, and the company withdrew the card and apologised. Photo: Big Hit Entertainment

Published: 12:50pm, 18 Mar 2021Updated: 12:50pm, 18 Mar 2021

US trading card maker Topps has removed and apologised for its BTS sticker card after a backlash from Twitter users who have called the card’s depiction of the K-pop boy band violent and racist.

The BTS card debuted as a part of Topps’ “2021 Topps Garbage Pail Kids: The Shammy Awards” pack of sticker cards. The collection was unveiled shortly after last Sunday’s 63rd annual Grammy Awards, and featured caricatures of famous musicians, including Billie Eilish as “Buoyant Billie” and Bruno Mars as “U.F. Bruno”.

However, soon after Topps unveiled the Shammy Awards pack and its BTS card, eight people, including six Asian women, were killed in shootings across three Atlanta-area spas and massage parlours.

The Atlanta Police Department is still investigating the motive behind this string of attacks, but the shootings have prompted a nationwide condemnation of hate crimes against Asian-Americans in the US, which have been on the rise since the Covid-19 pandemic first began.

The BTS card pulled by Topps. Photo: Topps

As a result, shortly after the pack was unveiled, people took to Twitter to air their disappointment in the BTS card, which depicted the South Korean boy band getting beaten and bruised by a Grammy award in a whack-a-mole game.