分类： entertainment

A Brazilian woman who carried out a months-long campaign of stalking against global K-pop icon Jungkook of BTS has been handed a suspended prison sentence and faces deportation from South Korea after repeatedly trespassing on the singer’s private Seoul residence, court documents have confirmed.

The unnamed woman first initiated her unwanted intrusions on December 7 of last year, when she loitered outside Jungkook’s home, threw personal items over the property’s boundary wall, and slid handwritten letters and photographs through gaps in the singer’s front door. According to court testimony, she claimed her actions were motivated by her romantic affection for the 28-year-old world-famous performer.

Just days after that first incursion, she returned to the property and pressed Jungkook’s doorbell 133 consecutive times — a behavior Seoul District Court characterized as clear evidence of an extreme, unhealthy obsession with the star. She was arrested just a week later, on December 13, after she followed a food delivery employee through a side gate to gain unauthorized access to the residential compound. She was released from custody the following day after receiving an official formal warning that she was prohibited from approaching the property again, a order she immediately chose to ignore.

Over the following two months, the woman continued her pattern of harassment. Police issued an emergency restraining order barring her from coming within 100 meters of Jungkook’s home, but the restriction did nothing to stop her repeated visits. By February, authorities had exhausted all preliminary interventions and referred her case to public prosecutors for formal criminal prosecution. In total, court records confirm the woman visited the singer’s private property at least 22 times between December and February, far more than the initial reported count of 20.

Seoul District Court ultimately sentenced the woman to 12 months of imprisonment, with the sentence suspended for a two-year probationary period. The judge explained that the ruling accounted for multiple mitigating factors, including an assessment that the woman’s risk of committing repeat offenses after the case is closed is not significant. Unless she successfully appeals the guilty verdict, she will also be deported back to Brazil following the conclusion of court proceedings.

This is not the first high-profile stalking incident targeting Jungkook in recent months. In June of last year, a Chinese woman in her 30s was arrested in Seoul just hours after Jungkook completed his mandatory South Korean military service, after she attempted to force her way into the star’s home. The string of intrusions has sparked renewed public debate in South Korea over the adequacy of current anti-stalking laws and the level of privacy protection afforded to high-profile public figures.

A heated debate over former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s connection to the 1943 Bengal famine has led to the removal of a controversial video installation from London’s National Portrait Gallery, sparking new conversations about artistic freedom, historical interpretation, and institutional accountability.

Created by Turner Prize-winning artist Helen Cammock, the 40-minute work titled *Persistence* was developed in partnership with the gallery beginning in 2023. Part of the temporary exhibition “Artists First: Contemporary Perspectives on Portraiture”, the piece had been on public display for 10 months and was scheduled to run through August. In her self-narrated installation, Cammock drew a parallel between Oliver Cromwell’s 17th-century mass starvation tactics during military campaigns in Ireland and what she described as “the wilful starvation of the Indian population by Winston Churchill” during the devastating 1943 famine.

The artist’s framing quickly drew fierce pushback from prominent historical figures and politicians. Churchill biographer Lord Roberts of Belgravia organized an open letter to the gallery leadership, which gathered signatures from more than 50 members of the House of Lords — including Churchill’s own grandson, Sir Nicholas Soames. The letter argued that Cammock’s characterization of Churchill was factually incorrect, dismissing the claim as an “ideologically motivated rant”. Lord Roberts contended that the famine was primarily triggered by a devastating typhoon, and that Churchill had directed his war cabinet to deploy all available resources to support affected regions, even requesting emergency grain shipments from global allies. While this perspective is shared by some historians, other academics have long argued that wartime policy decisions made by Churchill’s government exacerbated the crisis. An estimated 3 million people died in the famine that struck eastern India, and Churchill’s exact role remains one of the most hotly contested topics in modern colonial history.

Beyond the open letter, the gallery also received direct complaints from members of the public. Initially, the institution defended the work as a legitimate expression of the artist’s personal perspective, but the controversy gained sustained national media attention last week, ultimately leading to the work’s removal on Monday.

In an official statement provided to BBC News, the National Portrait Gallery confirmed that Cammock had made the independent decision to withdraw her piece. “We respect her decision, just as we acknowledge the opinions of those who were offended by what was said in the film,” the gallery said. It emphasized that the exhibition framework was designed to center artists’ personal creative responses to the gallery’s permanent collection, noting “the work was presented as an artistic piece, not a documentary, and the views expressed in the film do not necessarily reflect those of the NPG.” The institution added that it remains committed to balancing respect for the historical legacies of figures in its collection with support for free artistic expression.

Cammock, however, has pushed back against what she describes as overwhelming external pressure to censor challenging historical narratives. In her own statement released Monday, she said: “There is an incredible pressure on artists and arts institutions to bend to external pressure; to be benign at best and silent at worst. I do not accept this pressure. To question, challenge and explore ideas and histories is vital to a healthy society and art is intrinsic to this.”

The artist added that her work was rooted in existing academic research on the famine, and that its core goal was to interrogate how society chooses to honor and memorialize historical figures. “It asks us to think about who is honoured and valorised and who is not; whose stories are told and whose are not,” she said. Echoing activist and artist Nina Simone, Cammock noted: “An artist’s duty, as far as I’m concerned, is to reflect the times, and sometimes this means revisiting, enquiry and challenge.”

Hollywood star Giancarlo Esposito, best known for his iconic Emmy-nominated turn as calculating drug kingpin Gus Fring in *Breaking Bad*, has become the center of a viral global conversation after unconfirmed reports emerged that he has converted to Islam, sparked by his recent public remarks and on-site activities during a film tour in Morocco.

The 66-year-old multihyphenate — who counts acting, directing and producing among his credits — traveled to the North African kingdom this June to promote *7 Dogs*, a Saudi-backed Arabic-language action thriller in which he portrays Roman, a shadowy antiquities trafficker with deep ties to the elite ranks of the eponymous criminal syndicate.

While walking the red carpet for the film’s premiere, Esposito made striking remarks that quickly drew attention: “In your country, Muhammad is everything. For me, it’s the same.” In a subsequent interview with Radio Abraham, filmed while Esposito held what appeared to be Islamic prayer beads, he expanded on his comments, describing Moroccans as “a mirror” for himself. He praised the community’s open devotion, noting their shared understanding “that there is one God, one Allah,” and added that his time in the country allowed him to “see the truth.”

Days after the premiere, Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority chairman Turki Alalshikh shared a video on the platform X that pushed the story into viral territory. The footage captures Esposito leading a prayer alongside his *7 Dogs* production colleagues inside Casablanca’s iconic Hassan II Mosque. Alalshikh’s accompanying caption claimed Esposito made the decision to embrace Islam during months of filming *7 Dogs* on location in Saudi Arabia. As of press time, the post has racked up more than 13 million views.

In a pre-video interview with *Lalla Fatema* magazine at the Casablanca premiere, Esposito himself had already confirmed that his first stop after arriving in Morocco was the Hassan II Mosque, where he said he stopped to pray. To date, the acclaimed actor has not issued an official, personal confirmation of the conversion reports. Multiple requests for comment from Middle East Eye went unanswered ahead of publication.

Even without an official statement, the news has exploded across social media, with overwhelmingly positive reactions pouring in, particularly from Arabic-speaking users around the world. Dozens of posts across X and Instagram have welcomed Esposito to the Islamic faith, with many users calling the announcement one of the most pleasant and surprising pieces of entertainment news in recent memory. One user wrote on X: “By God, this is the best news of the day. Esposito converted to Islam and pronounced the testimony of faith, may God make him steadfast.” Another commented: “One of the most shocking and heartwarming news stories at the same time. Uncle Gustavo Fring from *Breaking Bad* and *Better Call Saul* embraces Islam. Praise be to God, that God guides whom He wills.”

Alongside sincere messages of welcome, many social media users have leaned into humor, creating lighthearted memes that tie Esposito’s reported conversion to his most famous on-screen roles. One viral X post edited a classic promotional photo of Esposito standing next to the sign for Gus Fring’s fictional fried chicken restaurant Los Pollos Hermanos, replacing the original logo with that of beloved Saudi fried chicken chain Albaik. On Reddit, users joked: “Los Pollos will now be serving halal chicken.” The playful content has only amplified the story’s reach, turning a celebrity religion story into a global viral conversation.

After three years of pandemic-induced hiatus, global K-pop supergroup BTS has launched a massive 88-date reunion world tour that has sparked unprecedented fan excitement — and a tidal wave of targeted ticket scams that have left hundreds of devotees across Southeast Asia out of pocket and heartbroken.

The tour, which launched in April and will run through 2027 across 34 cities, marks the first time the seven-member band has scheduled multiple shows in five Southeast Asian nations: Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. With 15 of the total tour stops hosted in the region, demand for tickets has hit extraordinary levels: industry insiders confirm that the number of fans seeking entry outstrips available seats by a factor of 15, prompting organizers to add extra dates in high-demand locations including Jakarta and the Philippines’ Bulacan just to keep up.

For long-time fans — who call themselves the BTS Army — the tour represents a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see the group perform together again after years of planned solo projects and pandemic disruptions. That desperation has opened the door for widespread fraud, with total reported losses across Southeast Asia already topping $100,000, according to regional law enforcement data.

Take 26-year-old Indonesian fan Vevee, a logistics worker who had waited more than a decade to see her favorite group perform in her home city of Jakarta. When tickets for the first Jakarta stop went on sale in June, she took the day off work, camped in front of her computer for hours waiting in the Ticketmaster queue, only to be told all seats had sold out when her turn finally arrived. After multiple failed attempts on the official platform, she turned to a ticket reseller she found on X, paying $1,200 — the equivalent of two months of her full salary — for four VIP tickets. Within hours of transferring the money, the seller had vanished without a trace.

“Right after I sent the money, they ghosted me. It’s horrible. I am so sad and heartbroken,” Vevee told reporters. She admitted that panic had gotten the better of her: “I was about to go into a meeting at work and was so terrified that someone else would grab the tickets. I just wanted to transfer the money quickly to lock them in. If I had just taken a moment to calm down, I might have spotted the red flags.”

Vevee’s story is far from unique across the region. In Singapore, police have recorded at least 62 complaints of BTS ticket fraud since June 1, with total losses exceeding S$68,000 ($51,000). Local e-commerce platform Carousell has even responded by implementing a full ban on ticket reselling that will remain in place through BTS’s final Singapore show in December. Malaysian authorities have received 28 formal fraud reports, with investigators currently working to trace the mule bank accounts used by scammers to launder stolen funds.

In Thailand, 126 defrauded fans have brought their collective complaint to national lawmakers, after a prominent X account promised to secure premium seats for fans for a fee, then disappeared shortly before the official ticket sale. Juraluk Kunaruk, a 23-year-old fan who lost 25,000 baht ($760) to the scam, told reporters the account appeared entirely legitimate, boasting thousands of followers and positive reviews from other users. “They have many reviews and followers so they looked reliable. The prices were reasonable too,” she explained. Since falling victim, Juraluk has traveled repeatedly from her hometown to Bangkok to lobby parliament for action, and though MPs have promised to push for fund recovery, she has not given up on seeing the tour: “I still want to go because I don’t know when I will get another chance to see them.”

Scammers have adapted their tactics to exploit fan loyalty, infiltrating private online fan groups to build trust before offering fake exclusive access or below-market prices. Many fraudsters even go so far as to share fake power of attorney forms to convince targets their tickets are legitimate, a ruse that has worked on even seasoned fans. In the Philippines, 30-year-old customer service worker Cookie thought she had vetted her reseller thoroughly: she checked the seller’s Facebook profile, cross-referenced their education and background, and believed she had avoided common scams. Still, within days of paying, she was blocked and left ticketless. “I feel ashamed. I didn’t even tell my family or my closest friends what happened,” she said. “I don’t want to be judged or hear them say ‘you’re dumb’. It was a desperate move since I really wanted to be there.”

This wave of fraud connected to a massively popular high-demand tour echoes similar issues seen during Taylor Swift’s record-breaking Eras Tour, which also saw widespread ticket scalping and fraud. Fans have called on tour promoter Live Nation and its subsidiary Ticketmaster, which manages ticketing for most BTS tour dates, to implement stronger protections against scams. In response, Ticketmaster says it has ramped up anti-fraud and anti-scalping measures, deploying new AI tools to block bot activity and implementing stricter verification rules. All tickets are now linked directly to the buyer’s email address, and holders of unofficially resold tickets may be turned away at the venue gate. A company spokeswoman urged fans to only purchase tickets through official channels, noting that “the artist’s website will always be able to point fans in the right direction.”

Despite the risks, many fans are willing to go to extraordinary lengths to secure entry. In Jakarta, some devotees have rented high-speed internet cafe computers for a full week ahead of ticket sales, and even rent premium smartphones just to improve their odds of beating the digital queue. “In Indonesia, we aren’t just fighting the ticket war,” Vevee said. “We fight to secure the best internet cafe and we even fight to rent high-end phones. It’s a war on every front.” For many long-time fans, the stakes go far beyond a single concert: “Some of us aren’t just trying to attend a concert. We’re trying to finally see the seven people we’ve been rooting for for years,” one Filipino fan wrote on social media.

For Vevee, that fight finally had a happy ending. After her earlier scam, she tried again for tickets to the newly added third Jakarta show, which falls on BTS member V’s birthday — making it an even more sought-after date. After a failed pre-sale, she and her friends split up across the city, each trying from different locations with separate internet connections and accounts to beat the system. This time, it worked: she finally secured the tickets she had spent years waiting for. The K-pop juggernaut and its label Hybe are projected to earn nearly $2 billion from the reunion tour across ticket sales, merchandise, streaming and licensing revenue, analysts estimate, a testament to the unwavering loyalty of the Army that has turned BTS into a global cultural phenomenon.

Before every performance, the seven members of global breakout pop group XG gather in a tight circle, lock hands, and share a pre-show chant that holds far deeper meaning than a simple pep talk. When leader Jurin calls out “Hesono,” the group roars back “Oh” and thrust their arms toward the sky. The phrase draws its roots from the Japanese word heso no o, meaning umbilical cord – a symbol of the inescapable, lifelong connection that has bound the band together since their earliest days.

“We’re so strongly connected, we’re always thinking the same things,” explains Chisa, the group’s oldest member. The concept came to her in a dream early in the group’s history, where she saw all seven members linked by an umbilical cord, just like a mother and child. “I threw that out as an idea for our identity. People said, ‘That’s so new and interesting’, and that’s how the concept of Hesono-o was born.”

BBC sat down with the full seven-piece lineup – Maya, Juria, Hinata, Harvey, Cocona, Chisa and Jurin – the morning after their triumphant, rain-drenched debut set at Capital’s Summertime Ball at London’s Wembley Stadium, where they earned a rapturous reception from thousands of British fans. Dressed in bold neon looks punctuated by tufts of faux fur and ornate belt buckles, each member brings a distinct personal style to the group: Cocona wears a necklace emblazoned with “rock star,” while Harvey’s stacked collection of bangles clinks with every step. But for all their individual flair, their synchronized energy and obvious camaraderie are impossible to miss; when answering questions, they huddle to confer before selecting a spokesperson, a small habit that reveals their deep-rooted teamwork.

That connection was forged over more than a decade, starting when some members were just 11 or 12 years old. In 2016, XG’s members were scouted from thousands of aspiring performers across Japan. Twenty-one finalists were selected to enter an intensive long-term training program, living together in group dorms while training from dawn to dusk in singing, dancing, and multilingual communication.

The training regimen was notoriously grueling. Behind-the-scenes documentary footage from the trainee era shows coaches scolding young trainees for posting casual dorm photos to social media, telling the teens “You’re never going to earn respect for doing that sort of thing.” Other clips show trainees repeating squats until they grew ill or broke down in tears from exhaustion. “It was the toughest and most difficult experience I’ve ever had,” Maya says of the years of training. “A battle against myself physically and mentally.” Looking back, Chisa describes the entire experience as an act of “pure survival.” It was only when candidates were split into small teams that the group’s signature sisterhood began to form.

“In a good way, we pushed each other to improve, so each team became really united,” Chisa explains. “From the middle to the later part of our trainee period, we started hanging out more – going out together, travelling, holding little sports days and things like that. We really loved watching movies together,” adds Hinata. “Especially scary movies, because we would all huddle up together under a blanket, being scared together. It was like we were real-life siblings, you know? That feeling is something I really love.”

After six years of rigorous preparation, the 21-person trainee pool was narrowed down to the final seven-member lineup, and XG made their public debut in 2022 with the single *Tippy Toes*. Built around a minimalist hip-hop beat, the track showcased the group’s seamless ability to shift from razor-sharp rap flows to melodic vocal runs, and its lyrics laid bare their ambitious global goals: “Understand that we didn’t come to play, here to dominate,” Hinata sang.

They made good on that promise later that same year with *Galz Xypher*, a track that saw the group’s rap line – Jurin, Maya, Harvey, and Cocona – trade verses across three languages over a sample patchwork that draws from Aretha Franklin’s *One Step Ahead* and Rosalía’s *Saoko*. The track became a viral sensation, spawning thousands of reaction videos on TikTok and racking up more than 49 million plays on YouTube to date. Subsequent releases, from the upbeat *Shooting Star* to the bold, confident *Woke Up*, solidified the group’s signature sound: a fusion of futuristic sci-fi aesthetics and the elastic, smooth grooves of 1990s R&B. By 2025, the group had earned a slot on the Coachella lineup, where they were the only Japanese act featured that year. “I still get chills when I watch it back,” Maya says. “I’m like, ‘Oh my God, I’m gonna work hard until I can get back on that stage’.”

As XG’s career skyrocketed, youngest member Cocona underwent a deeply personal public journey. Last December, on their 20th birthday, Cocona came out as transmasculine and non-binary in a heartfelt Instagram post, a move almost unheard of in the tightly controlled traditional world of J-pop and idol music. “I want to share something that’s been in my heart for a long time,” they wrote. “I was born and perceived as female, but that label never represented who I truly am… The hardest thing I’ve ever faced was accepting and embracing myself.”

From the start, Cocona had the unwavering support of their bandmates. Jurin shot the artistic accompanying photos for the announcement, which included shots of Cocona’s top surgery scars, while Chisa did their makeup. XG’s global fanbase responded with an outpouring of love and acceptance, a reaction Cocona says they are still grateful for. “I was really, really grateful for that,” they say. “I hope through me saying what I did, that other people will feel a sense of hope or light or love. Thinking that way makes me feel like I can keep going and work even harder, so I feel very blessed.”

In the wake of Cocona’s announcement, the group redefined their own identity as well. Originally, the name XG stood for “Xtraordinary Girls”; now, it stands for “Xtraordinary Genes,” reflecting the group’s core message that “it’s okay to be yourself as you are,” Chisa explains. “Breaking fixed ideas and preconceptions is a big part of our concept,” Jurin agrees.

That ethos anchors the group’s new album, *The Core*, which sees the seven-piece expanding far beyond the throwback R&B sound of their early EPs to explore a more diverse sonic palette. Lead single *Gala* is built around a Vogue-inspired ballroom beat, while fan-favorite *Hypnotise* draws inspiration from the iconic chunky house piano of CeCe Peniston’s *Finally*. “When we first heard that iconic piano sound, we instantly thought, ‘This has to be our title track’,” Maya says. “It’s not just danceable, it has a kind of dark, mysterious feel, and it makes you picture the city at night.”

Another standout track, *O.R.B*, pairs wailing distorted guitars with a message of bro solidarity – a choice widely interpreted as a public declaration of support for Cocona. “We told our producer we wanted a band-style rock song,” recalls Chisa. “We never imagined the demo would make it onto the album, but when we listened to it together, it really reminded us of Avril Lavigne and we all felt, ‘This is exactly what we want to do’. It’s a track that expands our musical gravity, our musical universe.”

This September, British fans will get to experience that expanded universe firsthand when XG plays their first ever UK headline show at Wembley Arena, part of a year-long global tour. Juria says the concerts “will truly embody the album’s title. Our core will be right there on stage.”

Even as touring and rising fame ramp up the demands on their time, the group has no plans to loosen the umbilical bond that brought them this far. They prioritize intentional downtime together to stay grounded: “Having a clear on/off switch is really important,” says Hinata. “For me, spending downtime with the members really helps me stay balanced.” Hinata relaxes by watching anime, Jurin – a former professional snowboarder – hits the slopes whenever she can, and Harvey hides a secret talent for playing trombone, even carrying her mouthpiece with her on tour. “I haven’t played properly since I was in third grade of junior high, but I do carry around the mouthpiece with me… So I’d love to play trombone with the band one day, just to see if I can still do it,” she laughs. If their rise so far is any indication, that dream probably isn’t far off.