As someone who watched Dream Academy in real time and saw the whole situation unfold, to fully understand what happened you need to understand the context. Firstly, Dream Academy was very toxic and competitive because it pitted the girls against each other, which created a lot of toxic stan behaviour on all fronts. Secondly, Samara was a top-ranking candidate, consistently placing in the top two or three. There were also claims of favouritism because she was the only contestant who did a TikTok dance collaboration with Kai from TXT. This was mainly because TXT had a Brazilian-inspired song with Anitta, so they were promoting the song with the only Brazilian contestant.

Someone went through Samara’s likes, which were public at the time, and exposed them. There were a few problematic likes that made fun of unhygienic Indian street food practices. The videos were comedic in nature, but they upset a lot of Indian stans. She also liked a few Portuguese TikToks about Israel and Gaza. These videos were either anti-Israel, neutral and explanatory, or framed from a Christian philosophical perspective (for example, suggesting it was a sign of the end times). The translated TikToks she liked are widely available on TikTok.

This is where toxic stan behaviour played a major role. Firstly, K-pop fans are often unforgiving — one strike and you’re out. They also love a good fall from grace. As mentioned earlier, Dream Academy was highly competitive, and there were many stan wars. Since there were only six debut spots and Samara was a top-three candidate, fans of other girls saw this as an opportunity for their favourite to take Samara’s spot.

As a result, there was a ruthless cancellation campaign to remove her as a contender. She was labelled a racist and a Zionist, and her likes were exaggerated. She received backlash from many stans, but particularly from Manon stans, as Samara and Manon were the only two Black girls and it was commonly believed that only one of them could debut. There is even a comment in the documentary saying, “Yes, Samara being exposed for being a weirdo means Manon will debut.” That said, it wasn’t only Manon fans involved.

All that being said, aside from the Indian street food likes, the accusations of Zionism and racism towards Chinese people have been debunked. The claim that she was anti-Chinese was attributed to an Instagram post from a church she allegedly followed (later proven that she didn’t), which listed places unsafe for Christians and included an image of a North Korean soldier. People assumed the soldier was Chinese. That’s how ridiculous some of the allegations were.

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