In recent days, Hung Huynh has been caught up in a scandal when his MV "Chang the gong mat" was accused of copying the idea of Jungkook's MV "Standing Next To You".
The plagiarism suspicion not only caused a stir in the Vietnamese fan community but also spread on international social networking platforms.
According to Korea Boo, the incident has been noticed in Korea and many other countries. On the X app, thousands of fans have pushed the hashtag "Stop copying BTS" and posted images comparing the two MVs of Jungkook and Hung Huynh.
Many viewers mentioned Big Hit and BTS's accounts to ask the management company to take legal action against cases of copying and plagiarism of the group's products.
In Vietnam, Hung Huynh's personal page was flooded with attacks and malicious comments from the online community. They also left many negative comments on the fanpages of brands that are cooperating with Hung Huynh.
Before Hung Huynh, many international singers were criticized and boycotted because of suspicions of borrowing ideas and copying BTS's songs.
Indian singer Ipsitaa was once criticized by international media for "blatantly plagiarizing" MVs of BTS and several other Kpop idols.
Or in early 2024, singer Sean Lee was also "terrorized" on social media for being accused of copying the choreography of Jungkook's song "Standing Next To You".
Sean Lee later confirmed that he did not borrow the idea from "Standing Next To You", his MV was filmed a long time ago and took time to edit. Sean also said that he released the MV after Jungkook and that some similar choreography was just a coincidence.
However, Sean Lee was still quite affected by the plagiarism scandal. "It would be a lie to say that I wasn't hurt by the negative comments," the singer said.
In 2021, Ecuadorian singer Nikki Mackliff was suspected of copying the cover of BTS's 2018 album "Love Yourself: Answer".
Except for the color and strokes, the heart shape on Nikki's album was said to be identical to BTS's album. When criticized for "relying on" and exploiting BTS to become famous, Nikki explained that she and her team had never seen BTS's album cover.
However, fans believe that Niik Mackliff intentionally used the heart drawing that has become BTS's symbol to attract attention and promote her name. Despite changing the album cover, she is still boycotted by BTS fans.
SCMP said that plagiarism is a common story in the entertainment industry, so Kpop management companies rarely take action to prevent this situation.
Lee Gyu-tag, a professor of arts and sciences at George Mason University Korea, told The Korea Times: "Korean record labels believe that the emergence of copycat versions proves the superiority of K-pop singers.
Copycat singers often cannot surpass or replace the original artists. But the fact that they copycat shows that Kpop is their reference model, making the audience feel that Kpop is quality, unique content."
