The YouTube sensation known as Psy, aka Park Jae-sang, is best known for his silly horse moves in "Gangnam Style." But recently unearthed images reveal the singer with the most popular video on YouTube also has a reportedly anti-American past.
During a 2004 performance that was part of a protest against the 37,000 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea, the singer smashed a camouflaged American tank onstage, Mediaite reports.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, however, this isn't the first time Psy expressed anti-American sentiments. In a song titled, "Dear American," he reportedly delivered the lines, "Kill those f---ing Yankees who have been torturing Iraqi captives," during a 2002 concert in South Korea.
The Hollywood Reporter reveals the lyrics:
"Kill those f---ing Yankees who have been torturing Iraqi captives/Kill those f---ing Yankees who ordered them to torture/Kill their daughters, mothers, daughters-in-law and fathers/Kill them all slowly and painfully."
The 2004 concert was in protest against the killing of Kim Sun-il, a South Korean missionary and translator who was beheaded in Iraq by militants. Sun-il was murdered after the South Korean government proceeded with plans to send 3,000 additional troops to the country, CNN reports.
What do you think, readers? Should Psy's stage antics be held against him a decade later?
Here's the song, which Psy performed alongside N.E.X.T., a South Korean metal band:
UPDATE: Psy apologized in a statement to MTV News today, writing, "The song in question — from eight years ago — was part of a deeply emotional reaction to the war in Iraq... I will forever be sorry for any pain I have caused anyone by those words." The singer concluded, "I hope [American soldiers] and all Americans can accept my apology."