ATEEZ’s “Work for Palestine” trend explained amid latest “Golden Hour” collab boycott of K-Pop artists

It hasn’t been long since eight-member K-pop boy band ATEEZ made their latest comeback with their 10th mini-album, “Golden Hour: Part 1,” on May 31. Following the highly anticipated music release led by title track “Work,” the eight-piece announced a new collaboration with Dutch DJ Don Diablo, resulting in a remix version of their new album’s lead single, “Work Pt 2.”

However, instead of wholeheartedly supporting the beloved band’s experimental musical works, ATEEZ fans, ATINYs, have issued a series of negative reactions to this creative partnership as a critical video alleging Diablo’s “Zionist” ties resurfaced online.

On Friday, June 14th (KST), that all changed when ATEEZ X’s official page (formerly Twitter) shared a video of members Yunho and Yeosang dancing to the latest lead single from “Work Challenge,” helping to spread the song across social media.

ATEEZ’s “Work for Palestine” trend mobilizes fans

The same video was also posted on K-pop artists’ Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok channels, but it was X/Twitter’s post that particularly caught fans’ attention. The Yunho Yeosang work challenge video, posted on X at 9:16am IST on June 14, was tagged with the hashtags: “#GottaWORK #WORKchallenge #ATEEZ #에이티즈 #YUNHO #윤호 #YEOSANG #여상 #GOLDENHOUR_Part1 #WORK_for_Palestine.”

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Over 30 minutes later, a revised version of the post was edited to remove #Work_for_Palestine, but hordes of fans had already rebelled against the original caption. Plus, thanks to the platform’s latest settings, users now have easy access to the “edit history” of a post, leaving fans with solid evidence of what happened.

ATINY quickly jumped in to further promote the now-deleted hashtag, with #Work_for_Palestine climbing the trending charts and gaining enough momentum that, despite the cryptic method, fans praised the person responsible for speaking out in support of the Palestinian cause.

“I hope the person who did that doesn’t get fired,” one X fan wrote. Another replied, “Tweeting workforpalestine and then deleting the hashtag because it’s against company rules is crazy,” while a third ATINY fan wrote, “Intern you won’t be silenced, we stand together.”

Eventually, fans spread the word and similar keywords such as “Golden Hour for Palestine” and “ATEEZ for Palestine” began trending.

More words of support for the group rose to the top as ATINY members praised the group for its vague but supportive stance during Israel’s war on Gaza.

According to multiple reports, Israel and the Palestinian armed group Hamas have been blacklisted by the United Nations for violating children’s rights. The UN’s Children in Armed Conflict report attributes 5,698 serious human rights violations against children to the Israeli military and 116 to Hamas.

ATEEZ fans have persistently emphasized that the group’s fictional lore, established through their interconnected music videos and related content, presents their characters as members of a group resisting the central government in a dystopian setting. This story particularly resonates with modern audiences as its vision poignantly resonates with the dark reality of a war-torn world.

K-Pop Artists Supporting Palestine

Fans praised the “courageous move”, as K-pop artists are contractually bound like cogs in a machine and have no freedom to speak out on political issues that could deeply divide their fanbase. “Wow @ATEEZofficial making a trend and waking up fans by adding Palestine to the hashtag??? What a brave move! Well done 👏🏻👏🏻”

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While some Western artists, such as Ariana Grande, Kehlani, and Billie Eilish, have openly expressed their activism and support for the Palestinian cause, some also sympathize with Israel’s cause. However, K-pop artists do not have enough autonomy to take action. Despite these unspoken rules, some K-pop stars have shown subtle support for Palestine in one way or another.

In October 2023, KARD’s BM posted on X/Twitter, “I get to celebrate my birthday again, but there are too many innocent people in Gaza who are missing out on that privilege. Please pray for all the lives lost and those desperately seeking an end to this 🙏🏻.”

Later, in April 2024, Korean artists including EXO’s Suho, Chu, and Kwon Eunbi were acclaimed for participating in the 12th Green Heart Bazaar, a joint initiative between the State Emergency Services (SES) and UNICEF to raise funds to support children in the Gaza Strip, Palestine.

K-POP boycott movement

Artists signed to K-pop giant HYBE Corporation have been particularly hard hit by the ongoing boycott due to the label’s professional ties to HYBE-America CEO Scooter Braun. Braun is also one of several celebrities who have vocally voiced support for the Israeli cause, which has mobilized fans of BTS and other HYBE groups to start a petition calling for the agency to purge “Zionism” and “Zionists” from the industry.

Recently, popular boy band NCT from SM Entertainment announced a collaboration with Starbucks, another brand that has been hit by a fierce boycott campaign. Fans expressed intense disappointment in the K-pop agency’s move to collaborate with the cafe company, and the uproar apparently reached the ears of the NCT members as the online movement exploded.

Despite being away from the music scene to fulfill his mandatory military service, Taeyong subtly hinted at his stance by posting the word “boycott” in a black-screened Instagram story, which he quickly deleted, sparking speculation that K-pop artists don’t have the authority to make decisions on such issues.

Following his lead, fellow NCT member Renjun took a similar stance on his own Instagram story, then quickly deleted the post. In both cases, fans stepped up to spread the word, while discussing how the company could have deleted these stories, similar to how ATEEZ’s June 14 X/Twitter post was edited.

Adding more fuel to the fire, an October 2023 message from NCT’s leader recently resurfaced, suggesting that K-pop artists have no real authority: “Because I’m the leader, there are a lot of things people ask me to do here and there…. I’m not the one who founded the company…. I don’t know much about it, and it seems I don’t have any authority. Still, I’m really grateful to everyone who gave me a lot of ideas here and there.”

Similarly, SEVENTEEN’s DK allegedly admitted in a Weverse live stream that HYBE had “blocked” him from speaking out about these issues. Fans who had been raising awareness in the comments during the stream asked the singer to raise his hand if he was not allowed to speak. “DK, Palestinian CARATs are in danger due to the ceasefire. The children outside are also in a difficult situation. Are you aware of this and will you stand with Palestine? If you can’t speak about this, please ✋🏻 instead.” When DK did so, many netizens believed it was his way of supporting Palestine. However, further conversations ensued, speculating that this may have been mistranslated from Korean to English. While there is no way to confirm the speculation, fans couldn’t help but notice that the live video was removed from the platform and an edited version with some parts missing was later uploaded. The comments on the stream were also reportedly filtered.

Several HYBE artists, including BTS’s RM, BOYNEXTDOOR’s Lee Han, and TOMORROW X TOGETHER’s Beomgyu, have made headlines for their (subtle) solidarity with the Palestinian cause.