Emily and her 19 friends (BTS ARMY)

Emily and her 19 friends refers to an incident on ARMY (BTS) Twitter where the fandom criticized media-studies student Emily Wang for her research and other academics. This event spawned hostility within the fandom to aca-fans due to feeling like "guinea pigs" and "lab rats" to the research conducted by academics.
=The Wall Street Journal Article=
On April 14, 2021 the article "Superfans’ Message to Taylor Swift, BTS and Other Music Superstars: Enough With the Deluxe Albums and Pricey Merch" by Neil Shah was released.Superfans’ Message to Taylor Swift, BTS and Other Music Superstars: Enough With the Deluxe Albums and Pricey Merch by Neil Shah It discussed Taylor Swift's fandom Swifties and ARMY (BTS) and the rising prices and frequency of merchandise in recent years. 
In the beginning of the article, a media-studies student named Emily Wang shared her survey research about how ARMYs feel about BTS' merchandise releases in 2020.
==Response to Article from ARMY on Twitter==
A majority of responses from ARMYs on were critical of the article. 
The first tweet about the article was posted on April 16, 2021 and gained over 2,000 likes. It pointed out issues with the "hot take" nature of the article and the greediness quote from Wang. The ARMY also pointed out how the article specifically targeted BTS when mentioning merchandise tactics when the group has frequently supplied free content more than "just about any other artist." To this ARMY, the most stressful aspect of purchasing BTS merchandise is the "inability to grab it before it's sold out." There were also specific issues with the way the article referred to Wang as a BTS 'superfan' "WITHOUT actually calling her an ARMY?" This one ARMY's tweet began the larger conversation about the article and ARMY academics on Twitter.
The initial ARMY response turned Emily Wang and her 19 survey participants into a meme called "Emily Wang and her 19 friends." During the same week when the WSJ article was published, BTS' company BigHit Music announced multiple releases of merchandise and collaborations. These are all the announcements:
*McDonalds BTS Meal
*Map of the Soul On:e photobooks
*Restock of the 5th Muster performance DVD
*24 hour YouTube BangBangCon 2021 livestream of old BTS concerts and performances
*Collaboration with Louis Vuitton
==Response from Emily Wang on Twitter==
In an effort to provide transparency on the situation, Wang provided the full presentation & transcript of her research on the @sbykjeon Twitter account.Emily Wang Presentation & Transcript Tweet
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==Criticisms of Emily Wang's Research by ARMY==
ARMYs on Twitter criticized these parts of Emily Wang's research:
*Snowball sampling
*Stereotyping/Generalizing ARMY
*Misrepresenting ARMY
==Response from Academics on Twitter==
Academics came to the aid of Emily Wang during this time, emphasizing how Wang's research had been misinterpreted by the journalist Neil Shah and the Wall Street Journal. They also explained, in depth, academic phrases and practices to the general ARMY public that was criticizing them in an attempt to come to an understanding and respond to the initial outcry.
===ARMY Academics===
These are the responses and statements specifically made by ARMY-associated academics and accounts. 
====ResearchBTS====
ResearchBTS, also known as Nicole Santero, interviewed Emily Wang after the initial outcry to understand her perspective of the situation. She was also the first solo academic to respond to the situation and directly address the concerns of non-academic ARMYs.
====The R3 Journal====
The R3 Journal is a BTS-focused academic journal that Emily Wang had previously published academic articles under. They responded as a group by quote retweeting ResearchBTS's now deleted tweet. ResearchBTS is a managing editor, peer reviewer, and a part of the marketing team for The R3 Journal.
====Bangtan Scholars====
Bangtan Scholars is the central hub for the international community of scholars interested in BTS. They share both media articles and academic articles on their Twitter account.
This thread includes an ARMY's comments and BangtanScholar's response for full context of the conversation.
===Other Academics===
These are the reactions of individual academics to the incident.
@LukneLou or Lukne Vasileviciute is a graduate in anthropology, English literature, and media and communications whose research interests lay within the field of fandom studies. An Analytical Overview of BTS’s Map of the Soul: 7 Promotional Campaign by Lukne Vasileviciute
@Maath48 or Mathieu Berbiguier is a Ph. D. Candidate in Korean Popular Culture at the University of California, Los Angeles.Twitter Bio of @Maath48 He is also the founder of the YouTube channel Deok_UP. @tbaudinette or Dr. Thomas Baudinette is a Senior Lecturer in Japanese at Macquarie University in North Ryde, Sydney, Australia.Twitter Bio of @tbaudinette
==Criticisms of Academics by ARMY==
==Statements released by ARMY Academics to Criticisms by ARMY==
In response to criticisms of the initial statements released by ARMY academics by ARMYs, ARMY academics directly responded to individual ARMYs and released a second round of statements. This first quotation is the full interaction between @BangtanScholars and individual ARMYs.
This is the Medium article Bangtan Scholars released in addition to their first statement.
The R3 Journal also tweeted out this second statement about the situation.
==ARMY Twitter Response to Statements released by ARMY Academics==
==Aftermath of Emily Wang Incident==
The aftermath of the situation had ARMYs becoming more cautious of academic presence in the fandom.
==Rhizome Connect 2021==
On October 27, 2021, a new controversy over the Rhizome Connect 2021 conference run by the The R3 Journal brought further discussion to the tensions between ARMY and academics. These concerns were directly tied to the ones raised around the Emily Wang incident in April 2021, building on them to create heightened tensions between ARMYs and academics. Twitter user @Agent_Snark pointed out the tweets of an academic involved in The R3 Journal's academic conference Rhizome Connect 2021 which spurred the conversation.
In response to this criticism, The R3 Journal released this statement:
===Responses by Individual ARMYs===
Many responses by individual ARMYs denounced the involvement of academics in ARMY and criticized the acts of The R3 Journal along with bringing up past criticisms of ResearchBTS and BangtanScholars.
==2022==
As of 2022, ResearchBTS, The R3 Journal, and BangtanScholars do not post as frequently as they did pre-April 2021 on Twitter. When BTS merchandise is released, jokes about and references to Emily Wang are still made. Attempts at large research surveys done by academics in the ARMY fandom are met with contention and no longer garner the same response level as they did pre-April 2021.
==References==
Category:Academia
Category:BTS
Category:2021 Twitter
Category:2021 Events