Lesbian Billionaires Hoax

Lesbian (Korean/or Chinese) Billionaires refers to a viral hoax that originated from K-Pop Stan Twitter. It is a copypasta that announces the marriage of two female Asian billionaires, declaring them the richest couple alive. It is, in fact, a hoax and typically involves different K-Pop girl group members or ships in an effort to promote the group or as a meme. It has gone viral twice, once in 2017, from a tweet about WJSN, and again in 2019, about LOONA. 
It is a popular trend on Stan Twitter to promote your 'faves' and trick the 'locals' (outsiders to the fandom) into stanning or streaming. This can be done through guerrilla tactics or viral misinformation. The intention may be to increase the view count of a music video, or simply to expand the fanbase. "Lesbian Korean Billionaires", (or alternatively Chinese) refers to just one of these attempts, but it is notable for going viral twice, and reaching BuzzFeed, HuffPost and other news sites. It has so forth become a long-running meme amongst fans for Korean girl groups.
== 2017 WJSN Tweet ==
=== Original Tweet ===
In 2017, a fan named Abby (@merrymeiqi) made the following tweet:
It included a photo of K-Pop idols Mei Qi and Xuan Yi from the girl group WSJN (also known as Cosmic Girls). It was taken at the Beijing International Film Festival and uploaded to Weibo. 
Abby's tweet went viral gaining over 40k likes and 20k retweets, including a retweet from Disney Channel star Debby Ryan. Abby shipped the two idols and posted it to amuse the group's fans (known by the fandom name ujungsTweet by WJSN_Cosmic, January 11, 2017 (Accessed 24 May 2024)) and didn't expect it to go viral. 
From an interview with Buzzfeed:
=== Response from 'Locals' ===
Some comments and reactions from 'locals' (a fan-term for outsiders to K-Pop fandom):
In response to some of these fans, K-Pop fans would respond with links to WJSN music videos, often "I wish".
=== Response from K-Pop Fans ===
Some comments from K-Pop fans (some are ujungs, others are multistans).
Some added to the narrative:
One tweet gaining over 10k likes included:
== 2019 LOONA Tweet ==
=== Original Tweet ===
A variation of the tweet went viral in 2019. A Twitter stan known as Rine made a tweet declaring Ha Soo Young and Kim Ji Woo (also known as Chuu and Yves, or the ship Chuuves). They tweeted it for ‘fun and promo’, didn’t expect it to go viral believing it was an obvious joke.Dahir, I. Sorry, But Two Korean Lesbian Billionaires Didn’t Get Married And Become The Richest Couple Alive BuzzFeed.News, February 22, 2019 (Accessed 24 May 2024)
It went more viral than the previous tweet with over 100k likes.
Rine is an Orbit. This is the fandom name for fans of the twelve-member girl group LOONA. Prior to this meme, the fanbase was already infamous for it's memes and tactics to promote the group. Most notably, spamming random tweets with the words "Stan LOONA", often with music clips or once popularized fancams.
BuzzFeed interviewed Rine on the tweet:
 
=== Response from Locals ===
Many people were fooled by the tweet:
 
Some were confused or realised the lie:
 
Many locals became fans of LOONA, due to the tweet: 
Some celebrities were even fooled. The tweet was liked by Kehlani, and it was shared as a screenshot to Victoria Monet's Instagram story.
== Legacy ==
Since the tweets were first made, it has become a long-running joke in both fandoms. Fans from other K-Pop fandoms have attempted to replicate the tweet, aiming to increase the popularity for their respective groups, for example , Kep1er, Dreamcatcher, CLC, TWICE, aespa, though none of these have gained as much popularity to the extent of the original ones from WJSN and LOONA.
== Further Links ==
=== Videos ===
* The 'Korean Billionaire Couple' Twitter Hoax by Joe Regrets (2022)
=== Articles ===
* The Story About A Chinese Lesbian Billionaire Couple Is Very, Very Fake. Buzzfeed (2017)
* Where Are They Now? The Viral Chinese Lesbian Billionaires That Fooled The Internet. Koreaboo (2023)
* Sorry, But Two Korean Lesbian Billionaires Didn’t Get Married And Become The Richest Couple Alive. Buzzfeed. (2019)
* Unfortunately, Korean Lesbians Did Not Just Become the Richest Couple on Earth. The Cut (2019)
* K-Pop Idols Go Viral After Being Called ‘Korean Lesbian Billionaire’ Couple Worth $170 Billion. NextShark (2019)
== References ==
Category: LOONA
Category: K-Pop Fandom