TikToker Bella Poarch vows to remove controversial tattoo following backlash from Koreans

Bella Poarch has apologized following the backlash from Korean netizens who were offended by her controversial Rising Sun tattoo.

The social media influencer posted an apology on TikTok with a photo of the said tattoo.

"I'm very sorry if my tattoo offends you. I love Korea. Please forgive me," she wrote.

@bellapoarch

##greenscreen Here is a photo of my arm tattoo. I love Korea???????? I would never do anything to hurt anyone.

? The Banjo Beat, Pt. 1 - Ricky Desktop

She added, "Here is a photo of my arm tattoo. I love Korea. I would never do anything to hurt anyone."

In the comments section of her apology post, Bella said she will have the tattoo removed or covered.

She admitted that she did not know the meaning behind it when she got it in March.

"I did not know the history behind this tattoo and I will educate others about it," she said.

"I only found out, when Koreans told me about it on TikTok... So I had it covered by a heart and I was scheduled for a tattoo removal for red rays. The virus got worse and my appointment got moved to November," she added.

Since the controversy, the Hawaii-based Filipina has been advocating for awareness of the issue. She said she sees a lot of people using the red rising sun symbol in clothing, cars, and jewelry in Hawaii.

I live in Hawaii and I see a lot of people using the red rising sun symbol in clothing, cars and jewelry. Please educate yourselves and learn more about it because it came from a terrible history. It is very offensive to a lot of people. Please learn from my mistake.

— Bella Poarch (@bellapoarch) September 6, 2020

"Please educate yourselves and learn more about it because it came from a terrible history. It is very offensive to a lot of people. Please learn from my mistake," she said on Twitter.

Despite admitting she made a mistake, Bella said it's a different scenario when they attack the Philippines and Filipinos.

Y’all can attack me. I’m ok with that. But when y’all attack Philippines and make fun of them, that’s when I lose my shit.

— Bella Poarch (@bellapoarch) September 9, 2020

"Y’all can attack me. I’m ok with that. But when y’all attack the Philippines and make fun of them, that’s when I lose my shit," she tweeted.

As of this writing, her apology post on TikTok garnered over 26.3 million with over 154,900 comments.

The hashtag #CancelKorea trended on Twitter on Wednesday after Filipino netizens stood up for Bella when some Korean netizens posted racist comments against her and her fellow Filipinos on her Tiktok post.

As of this writing, #CancelKorea is the top trending topic on Twitter with over 200,000 tweets.

According to a report on CNN in 2019, the South Korea's parliamentary committee for sports wanted the Rising Sun flag to be banned from venues at Japan's Tokyo Olympics because "it is viewed in South Korea as a symbol of Japanese 'imperialism and militarism.'" —Jannielyn Ann Bigtas/JCB, GMA News