Student baseball players from Paichai High School are seen during the 81st Blue Dragon Flag National High School Baseball Championship at Mokdong Baseball Stadium in western Seoul on June 29.SCREEN CAPTURE
When hate goes viral: Meme culture takes ugly turn on the baseball field
Players from a Seoul-based high school mocked a team from Gwangju by using chants alluding to Starbucks Korea's controversial "Tank Day" promotion.
What should have been a stage for youth sportsmanship this week instead became tainted by hate speech and regional slurs. Analysts attribute what happened at a high school baseball tournament to not just a single problem but an overall epidemic of hateful expression-loaded internet memes trending among teenagers.
On Monday, some players from Seoul-based Paichai High School repeatedly shouted "Let's go, let's go, let's go to Starbucks” during their match against Gwangju Jeil High School during the 81st Blue Dragon Flag National High School Baseball Championship held at Mokdong Baseball Stadium in western Seoul.
The remarks appeared to have referenced Starbucks Korea's controversial "Tank Day" promotion, which took place on May 18 this year. The promotion faced intense backlash for allegedly mocking the May 18 Gwangju Democratization Movement, which was brutally suppressed in 1980 by the military regime ruling Korea at that time.
The chant, directed at players from Gwangju while Paichai held a 6-2 lead, drew protests from the opposing team. The umpire warned the Paichai players, and the incident initially appeared to end there. However, the controversy then intensified on Tuesday after the recorded clip spread online through social media.
Next steps: Apology and probe
An apology statement posted by Paichai High School on June 29. A watermark of Google's generative AI tool, Gemini, is seen at the right bottom of the image.SCREEN CAPTURE
Paichai High School posted an apology on its website after the game on Monday, followed by a revised version on Tuesday.
"We sincerely apologize for the deep hurt and disappointment caused by an inappropriate chant made by some of our student-athletes during the game," the school said in its apology. "We immediately intervened to stop the students involved and took the necessary measures at the scene. After the game, we also conveyed our apology to the Gwangju Jeil High School baseball team."
The apology did little to quell the backlash. The recorded clip shows multiple Paichai players chanting in unison, not just one or two individuals, and no one appears to stop them until a coach from Gwangju Jeil High School's team protests to the umpire.
The outcry grew after online users discovered a watermark at the bottom of the apology image showing it had been created with Google's generative AI tool, Gemini. The watermark has since been removed.
The controversy then escalated further on Tuesday after videos of the incident further spread across social media.
On the same day, Lee Kyu-yeon, the principal of Gwangju Jeil High School, lodged an official complaint with the Korea Baseball Softball Association.
The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education also opened an on-site investigation.
"We take this incident very seriously, and expressions that ridicule historical suffering or could be seen as mocking a particular region are educationally unacceptable and will not have any place in student sports,” the office said.
"We have begun verifying the facts. The relevant department will visit Paichai High to examine the circumstances surrounding the incident, whether the students were stopped at the scene, how they were guided and the school's follow-up measures and plans for preventive education."
Gwangju Jeil High School principal Lee Kyu-yeon files an official complaint at the Korea Baseball Softball Association in southern Seoul on June 30.YONHAP
A hateful epidemic among youngsters
Newly uploaded apology statement from Paichai High School on June 30SCREEN CAPTURE
Some experts argue that the chants reflect a growing culture among some teenagers in which hateful expressions are consumed as memes and repeated as jokes.
Content mocking the May 18 uprising, former President Roh Moo-hyun, Chinese people and women is routinely spread amongst some teenagers through short-form videos and group direct messages because it is regarded as “entertaining.”
A total of 80.2 percent of 117 teachers nationwide said that they "frequently" encountered students using far-right hate speech in schools or classrooms, according to a survey by the Korean Teachers and Education Workers' Union released earlier this year.
Experts stress that the incident should not simply be dismissed as evidence of teenage radicalization or individual misconduct. The incident should serve as a chance to examine the social conditions that have allowed hate to seep into cheering culture and to reflect on how Korean society passes down the legacy of historical events to future generations, experts say.
"Although schools teach the May 18 [uprising], instruction often stops at memorizing historical facts," said political science Prof. Jeong Hoi-ok of Myongji University. "Without sufficient education about digital citizenship and media literacy, hate and ridicule appear to have spilled over onto the playing field.”
Jeong said they should be regarded as students before athletes.
"Student-athletes should be required to complete education on human rights and sportsmanship before competing in national tournaments, and their coaches should also be held to a greater responsibility."
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
