People have claimed London's announcement is like 'blackface'. Photo / Instagram
People have claimed London's announcement is like 'blackface'. Photo / Instagram
The British influencer who sensationally claimed to be "transracial" and who identifies as Korean, has been hit by a wave of death threats after coming forward with their new identity.
Oli London, who also identifies as non-binary and uses they/them pronouns, told TMZ that the hate has been relentless.
"Thisweek has been insane — I've literally had thousands of death threats," they said.
"People telling me to kill myself, people telling me they're going to come and find me and shoot me. Like, really extreme stuff," said London, who partially bases their look on K-Pop star Jimin.
Oli London (L) feels Korean and Jimin from BTS (R) is Korean. Photo / Supplied
London said the attacks had been "very scary" and blamed the "extreme radical left" for their troubles.
London also tried to equate their "transracial" identity with being "transsexual".
"I do equate it to the same as being transsexual … I feel like I was born in the wrong body. I should have been Jimin in a different life," they claimed.
London also suggested their surgeries were no different to people of Asian descent having surgery to look more Western.
"Go to Asia, go to Korea, and one in five people have eye surgery to look westernised, to have caucasian features," London claimed.
"It's totally normal there — I'm just doing the reverse."
The 31-year-old singer and internet personality sparked outrage when they released a video on YouTube revealing they had undergone 18 rounds of plastic surgery to look like BTS star Park Ji-min, also known as Jimin.
The surgeries include a facelift, brow lift, eye surgery, temple lift as well as new veneers, they explained.
London said they were now "feeling really good" after being "very unhappy with who I am deep down for the last eight years".
"For the first time in my life I feel beautiful. I'm looking in the mirror and I love the way I look and feel happy, and I hope people can respect my decision," London said in the video.
London says they are living a Korean lifestyle. Photo / Instagram
During the video, London came out as non-binary while also revealing they considered themselves "they/them, Korean/Jimin".
"I know a lot of people don't understand me, but I do identify as Korean, and I do look Korean now. I do feel Korean.
"I don't identify as British, so please don't … refer to me as British, because I identify as Korean.
"That's just my culture, that's my home country. That's exactly how I look now, and I also identify as Jimin – that's my Korean name."
They also posted a rainbow version of the Korean flag to Twitter, tweeting that was their "new official flag for being a non-binary person who identifies as Korean".
They also claimed "TRANSRACIAL is a thing", tweeting: "I invented it! If you can be transgender you can be TRANSRACIAL."
This is my new official flag for being a non-binary person who identifies as Korean. Thank you for the overwhelming support it was so hard for me to come out as Them/they/kor/ean 🏳️🌈⚧ #olilondon#nonbinarypic.twitter.com/5uJp2dBQU5
London's announcement saw some people criticise them and accuse the internet personality of cultural appropriation.
They claimed the influencer's decision to identify as Korean "gave transphobes the opportunity to invalidate trans people".
People also accused London of "blackface" and likened them to Rachel Dolezal, a white US woman who controversially identified as black.
as a Korean nonbinary person, I haven’t really talked about the Oli London thing. But, the fact that they are acting like it’s genuine and that it’s part of a “journey” due to a “identity issues” really irks me. It’s a mockery of trans people, it’s cultural appropriation. +
