"Extremely offensive"- Fans of KPop Demon Hunters express displeasure over film's use of 'Napalm era' in opening song

The musical fantasy film KPop Demon Hunters has become a massive hit since its release on Netflix on June 20, 2025. Although the animated film has been universally praised for its story and execution, it has recently come under fire for a particular line of lyrics in its opening song, How It's Done.

Written by Ejae, Danny Chung, and Mark Sonnenblick, the song is performed by Ejae, Rei Ami, and Audrey Nuna.

In the film, How It's Done plays as the protagonists—Rumi, Zoey, and Mira—slay several demons while on their way to perform in front of their fans in a packed stadium. While the song embodies girl power, it also features the lyrics, "Fit check for my napalm era," which has not gone down well with Vietnamese fans.

Many of them subsequently took to social media noting that the 'napalm era' from the KPop Demon Hunters lyric references the atrocities of the Vietnam War.

"There is a lyric in Kpop Demons Hunters soundtrack using 'napalm bomb.' This is an extremely offensive thing to me as a Vietnamese person. Note that America's government used to use this type of bombs to kill off Vietnamese people, even children," an X user wrote.

Expand Tweet

Many others also talked about the meaning behind the lyric, and how it's usage in the animated film was "disgusting."

"FYI: Napalm bombs were used in Vietnam, causing the deaths of many children and civilians... THATS SO F**KING DISGUSTING," one user tweeted.

"WTF. What do you mean they used napalm as a reference??? Why??? another questioned.

"Why did nobody talk about this tho? Like the movie has been out for a week... Imagine if they said 'my hiroshima era', it would instantly be boycotted," a netizen said.

Several similar reactions continued to pour in on the social media platform, with some internet users saying they wouldn't watch the film due to the lyric in question.

"I don't understand why do they use 'napalm era' for lyric of a song... Is it just because they think it's kind of slay or cool or just anything else???" an X user wrote.

"You could never convince me to get into kpop demon hunter, not after that weird a** napalm line," another netizen said.

"It's an instant NOPE from me. I'm sure there are a lot more phrases you could have used to show how 'badass' the characters are. No need to bring up war crimes," one internet user mentioned.

What does the 'napalm era' from the song in KPop Demon Hunters signify?

Expand Tweet

The Vietnam War broke out in 1955 between South Vietnam, which wanted to retain its democratic rule, and North Vietnam, which sought to reunite both parts of the country under Communist rule. The United States backed South Vietnam as it was against the spread of communism across Asia, while China and the Soviet Union supported North Vietnam.

As the war continued to escalate, the United States deployed active combat troops in the region in 1965. The U.S. military made heavy use of napalm bombs, rockets, and flamethrowers in its warfare due to their ability to cause widespread destruction. Napalm bombs, especially, became an effective tool in the American military's fight against North Vietnam until its withdrawal in 1973.

Napalm, created by the Dow Chemical Company, is a highly flammable jelly-like liquid that burns at around 2000°F. It attaches itself to human skin and releases plumes of carbon monoxide, which leads to long-term health issues in people who inhale the harmful gas, along with causing almost-fatal burn wounds.

Between 1963 and 1973, American troops dropped 352,000 tonnes of napalm bombs in the country, leading to large-scale devastation and innumerable civilian casualties.

Also Read: What role does Liza Koshy play in KPop Demon Hunters? Character explored

What is the story of KPop Demon Hunters?

KPop Demon Hunters centers on members of the popular K-pop girl group Huntr/x – Rumi (Arden Cho), Mira (May Hong), and Zoey (Ji-young Yoo) – who also moonlight as demon hunters. They keep the demons trapped behind the barrier, called Honmoon, through the power of their voices.

However, demon Jinu (Ahn Hyo-seop) forms a rival male K-pop group, the Saja Boys, with four other demons and plans to weaken the Honmoon by stealing their fans' souls. Meanwhile, Jinu notices Rumi's purple marks and realizes that she is part demon, which helps the duo bond over their shared feelings of shame, guilt, and sorrow.

As Jinu and Rumi start falling in love and help each other heal their insecurities, they decide to work together to restore the Honmoon with a gold seal that will banish the demons forever. However, Jinu and his teammates trick Rumi into revealing her demon marks to her fans on stage, bringing back her insecurities.

As the Saja Boys rise in popularity, they weaken the Honmoon and inch closer to their goal of breaking the barrier and setting the demon king, Gwi-Ma (Lee Byung-hun), free. During the Saja Boys' final performance, Gwi-Ma puts the world in a trance, which is broken when Rumi bravely addresses her shame and fear.

In the climax of KPop Demon Hunters, the Huntr/x defeat Gwi-Ma and his demons with Jinu's help, locking them inside the Honmoon forever.

Also Read: KPop Demon Hunters: All original songs from the Netflix movie ranked

KPop Demon Hunters is available to stream exclusively on Netflix.

About the author

Deepti is an entertainment writer at Sportskeeda. She comes with more than 6 years of experience in the creative writing field and has written extensively for the entertainment and travel domains.

She holds a degree in Chemistry, but her true interest always lay in the creative field. A passion for reading from a young age fueled her desire to make a career change later in life and take up writing as her profession.

Apart from reading, her hobbies include watching movies, listening to music, and going to the beach. In her free time, she can be found looking up reviews of new and old films to add to her watchlist. She also enjoys watching foreign language films that help expand her knowledge base regarding different cultures around the world.

Asked to describe herself, she would promptly mention that she is a die-hard Swiftie and enjoys nothing more than listening to Taylor Swift songs on loop while writing.

Know More

Edited by Janhavi Chauhan