A woman who became infamous for pretending to be Black has spoken up in support of a British social media star who says they identify as Korean.
Rachel Dolezal made headlines across the world in 2015 when she was confronted by a journalist and it was revealed she had been pretending to be African American. She later said she identified as a Black woman, despite being very much Caucasian.
Now, Dolezal has spoken out in support of British-born Oli London - a YouTuber who goes by they/them pronouns, and has just revealed they identify as Korean.
London posted on social media in late June saying they had undergone several surgeries to make themselves appear Korean and their new pronouns were they/them, or Korean/Jimin.
The 31-year-old has previously spoken about being a huge fan of the Korean boyband BTS - and specifically the member Park Jimin. London has had 18 plastic surgeries to look identical to Jimin.
"I know this is a little confusing, no one's ever come out as Korean or Jimin but this is something you guys know I really struggled with identity issues - it's a very tough one," they said in a YouTube video.
"I identify as Korean and I do look Korean now… if you didn't know who I was you'd just think 'oh, that's a Korean person - not a man or a woman, just a person.'"
Dolezal told TMZ last week she supports London.
"Being true to yourself is a very different journey and experience than stealing somebody's culture in order to profit or gain from it," she said.
"There's a different thing there, and I think sometimes people are confusing those two."
She added the issue of identity is not as important as how people feel.
"The broader issue here is compassion and kindness, and that personal identity is not the big fish to fry when it comes to somebody's personal choices or how they feel."
London has been heavily criticised for cultural appropriation, invalidating the transgender experience and trivialising neopronouns - an evolving phenomenon where people create words to serve as pronouns without indicating any gender - for example ze/zir or fae/faer.
But London says the criticism from the "woke left" is hypocritical and doesn't support his identity.
