Controversial social media star Oli London has been accused of being 'harmful' after claiming everyone should 'have the right to choose how we identify'.
London, who uses they/them pronouns, has spent thousands of pounds on surgeries in an attempt to look like K-pop star Jimin from Korean boyband BTS, and has made headlines in the past for describing themself as '100% Korean' despite being white and British.
The 31-year-old furthered their views on being able to choose your race in a recent episode of Channel 4's series Would You Rather, which sees two people who 'sit on opposite sides of the fence' share their differing opinions with each other.
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Watch the video below:
London appeared on an episode focusing on transracialism, where they told the woman sitting across the table from them that they identified as Korean, explaining they love the Korean culture, history and people and have put themself through 'a lot of pain' and surgical procedures in order to have more of a Korean aesthetic.
They described facing backlash after 'coming out' as transracial, saying: "People didn't really get it. Not everyone will get it but I hope over time, people will be more accepting of me."
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In response to London's explanations, the woman, who is Black, argued that 'transracial does not exist', saying it is 'very very harmful for us to push the narrative that we can switch races'.
"I can't sit up here and say, oh, 'I'm suddenly a white woman', and if you as a white person can say 'I can be Black or I can be Korean', and if I can't swap and benefit from the privilege that you benefit from then it's clearly not an equal exchange... Cultural appropriation essentially dictates people who are ethnic minority, whatever they do isn't really of value. You don't deserve to be associated with something you created because a white person has either renamed it or used it for profit.
"You are not a Korean man, no matter how much surgery you do, no matter how much of the aesthetic you adopt," she continued.
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London acknowledged that no one can take away what minority groups have been through, but said we all have the right to 'be who we want to be'.
The woman, however, told London that if they didn't 'recognise that power imbalance' in what they were doing and the ways in which it was disrespectful to her, they were 'proving the point that you're doing this for money and attention.'
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Topics: Racism, Korea, World News, Viral