KCON fest apologizes for ‘racist’ job post seeking only Asian and white applicants

KCON, an annual Korean pop culture festival held in Los Angeles and known for its K-pop performances, apologized Wednesday for a “racist” job listing that appeared to seek only Asian and white candidates.

A user on Twitter, @nanasbannanas, posted a screenshot Monday of the job advertisement for an event staff lead at the convention. After the post described some of the role’s duties, such as greeting visitors and explaining products to customers, the notice asked for “female” applicants and listed “Ethnicity,” followed by “Asian, White / European descent,” an age range from 18 to 30 and a request for a headshot photo.

The listing was posted on Backstage, a casting website. Requirements for age and sex in casting specific performing roles, such as in a film or theater production, are common on the website. However, it is illegal under federal employment law for an employer to show preference toward a specific race, age or sex in a job advertisement.

“Kcon is actually racist as hell wtf,” @nanasbannanas tweeted along with the photo. The post sparked a wave of comments from other users who called out the ad as “racist,” “ageist” and “illegal.” Other users noted that the listing had been edited to say “all ethnicities” sometime after screenshots of the original post began to circulate.

By Tuesday, KCON organizers announced they had launched an investigation into the post, which it called “unauthorized and exclusionary.”

“We strongly denounce any actions of racial profiling or any form of discrimination whatsoever,” organizers wrote in a statement posted to Instagram, “and indeed this runs counter to the very core spirit of KCON where inclusivity and diversity is celebrated.”

In a follow-up Instagram post Wednesday, festival organizers said they had found that “an outside vendor hired by one of KCON’s agencies” had created and posted the job ad without direction or approval from organizers.

“Our agency has terminated the relationship with the outside vendor effective immediately,” KCON said, promising better oversight moving forward.

The organizers also apologized for the ad, saying they “take responsibility for the hurt and disappointment this has caused.” Organizers for KCON did not immediately respond to The Times’ request for comment.

“We are reinforcing and raising awareness of our commitment to diversity, inclusion, and respect within our organization and those who work with us,” the statement read.

The first KCON was held in 2012 at the now-demolished Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre, drawing a crowd of about 10,000. It has since expanded and moved to L.A., where it has seen attendance grow to as many as 100,000 as Korean culture, namely K-pop, has become more mainstream among American audiences. K-pop is known to have a diverse audience in the U.S. and includes fans across races, sexuality and gender expression.

The three-day symposium hosted at the L.A. Convention Center and Crypto.com Arena will take place Aug. 18-20. It features performances and meet-and-greets with popular fourth-generation K-pop groups such as Cravity, Ateez and Everglow. Grammy-nominated boy group BTS is among the festival’s previous high-profile performers.