The girl group Katseye say they have received multiple online death threats since they made their debut last year.
The six-piece, who were recently nominated for best new artist at the Grammy Awards, told BBC News that the messages, which have also targeted their families, “can get really heavy”.
“I try to tell myself it doesn’t matter, but if 1,000 people are sending you death threats, it’s jarring,” said singer Lara Raj.
“Even if it’s not going to happen, it’s heavy.”Raj, who is a US citizen with Tamil Indian heritage, has also been subjected to racist comments, and was falsely reported to ICE for “working and residing in the United States without legal authorisation”.
The 20-year-old said she had “deleted Twitter” (now known as X), to avoid seeing negative comments.”I realised I am not the audience for other people’s opinions,” she said.Katseye did not specify the nature of the threats they have received; but aggressive and inappropriate behaviour is depressingly common among fan groups.
Last year, Chappell Roan criticised the “many nonconsensual physical and social interactions” she had had with fans, including people harassing her family and friends.
The pop band Muna chastised some of their supporters for “spreading falsehoods about us and our loved ones for clout and attention”; while Doja Cat called out “creepy” behaviour from a section of her fanbase.
“Our career has been really short, but I feel like we’ve gotten a lot of things already said to us, to our families,” said Katseye singer Sophia Laforteza.
“We know that we signed up for being so public. We know it’s a part of fame. But it doesn’t change the fact that we are human.”
Raj also pointed out the sexist nature of the comments the band have received.
“People see us as women to rank. They’ll grade us based on how pretty we are, our singing skill, dancing skill, and then add it up and give us a percentage.”That’s so dystopian.””I feel like it’s very terrorising on the mind,” added her bandmate Manon Bannerman.
Despite the online negativity, Katseye are having a remarkable year.
Their second EP, Beautiful Chaos, peaked at number two in the US album charts, thanks to the gratingly brilliant lead single, Gnarly, and the Charli XCX-penned follow-up, Gabriella.
An advert they filmed for the clothing brand Gap went viral in August, racking up 400 million plays and 8 billion social media “impressions” (“Isn’t there only 7 billion people in the world?” asked singer Megan Skiendiel when presented with the statistic).
Source: BBC
