100 Thieves member and Mob co-founder ‘Froste ‘poked the digital hornet’s nest when he tweeted a quip about Korean pop group BTS and Coronavirus that went viral.
Froste has never shied away from cracking jokes on Twitter – one of which invoked the wrath of a seriously dedicated fanbase.
With the ongoing Coronavirus outbreak dominating headlines inside and outside of esports and gaming, the Mob member posted a joke aimed at the passion and dedication exhibited by fans of BTS.
if BTS gets Coronavirus the stans are gonna find a cure within 24 hours
— Froste 💯 (@Froste) March 12, 2020
Froste has had a number of his tweets go viral, but this one exploded, garnering nearly 100,000 retweets, over 600,000 likes, a huge amount of angry replies and quoted retweets from BTS fans.
In fact, he was so entertained by the range of replies that he received that he didn’t just retweet his favorites – he replied with a thread of literally all of the quote retweets.
Several hardcore BTS fans responded negatively in a variety of ways, including accusations of racism, chastising Froste for making jokes about the situation, pointing out how much the BTS Army has donated to combat coronavirus, outright roasting him, and even some threats of bodily harm.
Look guys, it's another reason why I've lost faith in humanity
The 👏 corona 👏 virus 👏 isn't 👏 a joke 👏👏👏 https://t.co/CirctIV4Dh
— -_- (@jentIeten) March 12, 2020
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https://twitter.com/baapsae/status/1237925661446209539
https://twitter.com/BTSoverlord/status/1238040618510794752
Like any tweet that invokes the wrath of the Korean pop group’s fans, several replies also are quick to point out how dedicated and perhaps overzealous some of them are, which was the basis of Froste’s original joke.
Several big internet stars, including YouTube king Felix ‘PewDiePie’ Kjellberg and popular Twitch streamer Félix ‘xQc‘ Lengyel have had their own run-ins with the group’s fans, with Felix calling them “the most insane people on the planet.”
While supporters are quick to pounce on the boy band’s haters, the BTS “Army” can also be quite welcoming to those who genuinely support the group, such as professional wrestler and Hollywood actor John Cena.
Since The Mob joined 100 Thieves back in August 2019, the group has appeared in more and more 100T content, and have upped their individual Twitter games. Froste has even gone viral before, with a strange reply to makeup YouTuber James Charles.
In the war between The Mob and an actual mob of K-pop fans, there’s no clear winner – apart from Twitter itself.