Photo: Hello_0506B / Twitter
Things got steamy on stage today (15 July) when two members of Korean boy band EXO almost shared a cute gay kiss.
Park Chan-yeol (also known as Chanyeol) called fellow band member Kim Min-seok (Minseok) over on stage. Chanyeol then rested his head on his friend’s shoulder.
What happens next has to be seen to be believed.
Chanyeol tried to be the confident gay but he became the panicked gay so fast infront of minseok looool pic.twitter.com/JrGkZwCQQp
— aya. (@sehunownsme) 15 July 2018
During the video, fellow band member Kim Jong-in (Kai) jumps back in surprise as the crowd erupts into cheers and screams.
Another video of the moment has more than 80,000 views on Twitter and reactions of pure glee from social media users.
민석이랑 찬열이 뽀뽘ㅋㅋㅋㅋ pic.twitter.com/TTu7NB3Kz4
— 백오사 공육비❤ʬʬ (@Hello_0506B) 15 July 2018
In response to the video, one Twitter user jokingly wrote: ‘Gay panic’
Fans quickly labeled Chanyeol as the ‘panicked gay’ and Minseok the ‘confident gay’
Another tweeted the video, with the caption: ‘chanyeol, the most panicked gay in history.’
And another: ‘What the video contains: chanyeol the panicked gay, minseok stepping back proving his innocence, jongin trEMBLing.’
While none of the members of the band actually identify as gay, the moment signifies an increasing acceptance of homosexuality within South Korean popular culture.
The rise of EXO
EXO made their debut into the Korean music industry in 2012 and have enjoyed meteoric success since.
Their music utilizes genres including pop, hip hop and R&B, as well as electronic dance music genres including house, trap and synth-pop.
The Forbes Korea Power Celebrity list named the band one of the top-five most influential celebrities from 2014 to 2018.
Earlier this year, Korean boy band BTS caused a stir online when one of the members recommended a song from the movie Love, Simon.
RM took to Twitter to post a song recommendation from the band’s hugely popular account.
He posted a screenshot of the song Strawberries and Cigarettes by gay artist Troye Sivan. He captioned the photo simply with ‘It’s great.’
The band also worked with gay artist MNEK earlier this year.