On November 23, Mnet held on the third and final day of MAMA Awards 2024 at the Kyocera Dome in Osaka, Japan. This was the final night of the awards ceremony, which brought great victories to the best K-Pop artists in the world.
There were many iconic moments over the three nights, from a BIGBANG reunion to Bruno Mars’ “Korean talk”. There was another moment in between TXT‘S Hueningkai and a robotic dog, as he politely greeted him when he went on stage to accept an award with his members.
Kai is definitely a green flag and even showed respect to a robot dog
— DEJA VU (@Bawmznn) November 22, 2024
I’M CRYINGJF WE HAVE A ROBOT DOG THAT BOWS TO HUENINGKAI KAI?!&@$ 😭😭😭pic.twitter.com/11ac2YqABh
— ᯓ✦ Maryam (@txtdom) November 22, 2024
The video has gone viral with 436.4K views as of this writing, with many complimenting Hueningkai’s sweet personality. However, many were disappointed with the robotic dog, claiming that these types of robot dogs are used as “weapons of war”. Robot dogs are known to be deployed in the Middle East and other regions with guns mounted on them during wars and used to “gather intelligence” and monitor troops in war zones.
I want to clarify that this dog is used in many armies around the world, so this is not Zionist propaganda per se, but it is still strange that they only have a war weapon at MAMA
— my 🫧 (@syiwrl) November 25, 2024
zero clues 🙁 I hate the fact that Zionism is becoming more and more common in kpop with each passing day and we can do nothing but boycott praying that these greedy organizations will listen to us
— my 🫧 (@syiwrl) November 24, 2024
Ah yes, the cute little robot dogs used to kill people en masse https://t.co/iPcJdaaDJS
— J. Aranya⁷🇧🇷🇱🇧 (@JayPondh) November 22, 2024
Some netizens believed that including the robot dogs was military propaganda intended to desensitize viewers.
These are the cursed robot demons made to be the size of small children so that Israhell can target babies and small children.
They are desensitizing you and you will fall for it like clowns.
“Oh, such a cute robot killer dog that kills Palestinian children at point blank range!” https://t.co/L5rMkVTwbI pic.twitter.com/x4GPOSlKs6— Yoongi and Geto 🪷🔻 (@evilbunnyminho) November 23, 2024
God, I hate it when I’m reminded that I’m in a bad place. Those robot dogs aren’t “nice” technology, they’re desensitizing us to them https://t.co/upKsgK3oeg
— Liz⁷ 엘리사벳 #HybeDivestFromZionism 🍉₊˚⊹ ౨ৎ (@btsgivesuwings) November 22, 2024
That dog is not a weapon of war. And while I don’t know if that dog will be turned into a weapon of war, it is a robot that has nothing to do with war at this time. Focus on actual robots actively killing people and not this performative crap
Thank you— BESIDJU_ (@Versace_milk) November 25, 2024
I hate it. Robot dogs are used as weapons in armies and police forces. Don’t let them desensitize you to the violence and harm it will cause in the real world. https://t.co/jsUx7aT2zh https://t.co/AJkMB9UrHN
— Mackenzie (@TheGirlUnsure) November 23, 2024
While robotic dogs were present throughout the awards show, including during artists’ performances, Hueningkai’s clip in particular garnered the most backlash.
mingyu sitting on the floor with the robot dog masters before their performance… he is 3 apples tallpic.twitter.com/6rs8ci1FrF
— 🐶 (@gyumedia) November 23, 2024
TXT’s Yeonjun opens the MAMA Awards 2024 stage with a robot, performing GGum. pic.twitter.com/TtSJSqWB79
— About Music (@AboutMusicYT) November 22, 2024
THE Independent he wrote, “The IDF reportedly deployed robot dogs equipped with aerial drones earlier this year.” Netizens are increasingly alarmed by the dystopian world we live in, as genocides are taking place across the globe.
Robot dog with machine guns.
Are you ready for them? pic.twitter.com/IAJbtPExvk
— Gun Lovers Club (@GunloverClub1) September 17, 2024
On the other hand, some netizens said that this robotic dog in particular is not a weapon of war but Spot, a robot dog made by Boston dynamics. Like almost everything, robot dogs can be used for good but they can also be used for evil. The National Institutes of Health has called robot dogs “Promising technological interventions that can bring benefits to the psychosocial health of the elderly and people with dementia”.
As a dynamic detection platform, Spot provides valuable insights into routine operations, site health, or potentially hazardous situations. With Spot, your team can focus on the things that matter most while staying out of harm’s way.
– Boston Dynamics
Those are dynamic robot dogs from Boston…not the army ones…they’re just a different color… pic.twitter.com/toV1nqk6NL
— sleepy – LET’S SEE KIOF NEXT WEEK!!!! (@sleepyvibes_00) November 25, 2024
Netizens have shared multiple cases of robot dogs being used for profit. However, since robot dogs are guided by artificial intelligence, there are multiple concerns, as robot dogs are given the power to make life-or-death choices without human supervision in many situations.
Singapore presents a robot dog to ensure safe distance between park goers pic.twitter.com/wrOxg36jgH
— ￮༺𓂂𓂃ᗙ 𝔐𝔞𝔯𝔱𝔦𝔫 ᗛ𓂃𓂂༻￮ (@KlatuBaradaNiko) May 9, 2020
When robot dogs take children for a walk…
You know we live in the future. pic.twitter.com/o9ey9RMvmG
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) November 24, 2024
However, many netizens believe that it is no different from using drones to create amazing light shows or record performances, scenery, etc. However, drones are also commonly used in warfare.
Thanks, I wasn’t aware of that until now
— my 🫧 (@syiwrl) November 25, 2024
According to this logic (and I’m not saying it’s wrong) it’s also dystopian to have drones flying around filming us when they’re used for the same thing
And that we fly when planes are used for the same thing
The world is just dystopian in general when you look at it as a whole
— Mel Targaryen (@MelTarg) November 25, 2024
I don’t usually deal with minors, but in fact it’s just an ordinary robot dog. just like there are drones used in war tactics and common drones used to film stages of the kpop performances you watch every day. https://t.co/UExDq0BDZl
— Ciera Ciera ⭐ (@cierabyul) November 25, 2024
Also, a VCR in front Yeonjun‘s performance has been criticized for using AI (artificial intelligence) to create music and images, another aspect that makes the world seem increasingly dystopian. Read more below.
TXT’s ‘MAMA Awards’ VCR receives scathing reviews
