Adele is receiving serious criticism from her Korean fans for her use of an image during her concerts. This image is of a rising sun which has shocked her fans of Korean nationality for political reasons. The imagery has upset fans due to its historic connection to Korea’s past.

Adele upsets her fans with Rising Sun Flag

Adele, who began one of the biggest tours had upset her fans on the first day of her show. Her concert began on Saturday, August 3 in Munich Germany. The tour is expected to host 800,000 people with 10 performances. Hence, it has caught the world’s attention with such a large-scale event. In one of the performances of her song, Rumour Has It, an image of the Rising Sun flag appeared in the backdrop on LED lights which hurt the sentiments of the Koreans. The screens are set to make Guinness World record with a 220-meter-long outdoor screen.

The Rising Sun Flag is associated with Japan’s militarism and is immensely offensive to the Koreans. The use of the imagery in Germany further shocks the Korean people and media outlets. The Rising Sun symbols hold the same meaning in Korea as does the Swastika in the German country. Both symbols are considered taboo in their respective countries. Both of these symbolise imperialism and war crimes of the past, as reported by AllKpop.

Netizens react to the use of Rising Flag

Images and videos of Rising Flag imagery at Adele’s concert spread like wildfire on the internet. Korean fans expressed their anger on Korean social media platforms some of which are translated as “How should I put this… White people seem really ignorant and uncivilized. They don’t even know why the Nazis are taboo; they just get fed information that Nazis are bad, so they just accept it, right? Otherwise, why would they keep using the Nazi symbol of the East? They are so ignorant.”

A second comment read, “So ignorant. Or did the person in charge do it on purpose? Since they can’t use Nazi symbols in Germany, is this a substitute?” A third comment theorised, “Do they want to use the Nazi symbol in Germany but can’t, so they use the Rising Sun flag instead? It seems intentional rather than ignorant.”

One comment read, “Are they clueless because it’s an Eastern symbol? I tried to understand, but they should know about World War II. They can’t be ignorant about Japan, so why do they have no interest or understanding of the Rising Sun flag?” while another translated to, “The West is so hypocritical. If you don’t criticize the Nazis like they do, they treat you as uncivilized and make a fuss, but they only criticize what they choose to. Hahaha,” as reported by the Koreaboo.