Primary school bans students from singing hit KPop Demon Hunters tunes

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It’s the earworm that’s spent 20 weeks at the top of the ARIA singles charts and 16 weeks dominating Billboard‘s global charts – but at one British school, the hit song from Netflix’s record-breaking film KPop Demon Hunters is forbidden.

At a school in Poole, a town on England’s south coast, not a single bar of the song Golden by HUNTR/X is allowed be heard within the walls of classrooms – or even on the playground. Students and teachers are banned from playing or singing the hit, and any other songs from KPop Demon Hunters, for fear the music is out of tune with the institution’s “Christian ethos”.

KPop Demon Hunters has taken the world by storm since the film’s Australian release on Netflix in June. But one primary school in England has banned its music.

According to the BBC, the Lilliput Church of England Infant School in Poole messaged parents on Friday noting that some community members felt “deeply uncomfortable” with the album’s references to demons.

This was, the message reportedly said, because these community members “associate them with spiritual forces opposed to God and goodness”.

Parents were therefore asked by the school to encourage their children “not to sing these songs at school out of respect for those who find the themes at odds with their faith”.

After receiving feedback from parents highlighting the songs’ positive messages – Golden in particular is the film’s emotional hook, focusing on breaking free from fear and darkness, and stepping into the light to embrace one’s true self – acting head teacher Lloyd Allington explained on Monday that the ban’s purpose was to support those who may find the film’s themes “challenging”.

Allington’s update to parents noted that while the school “fully” respected each family’s right to choose what content to engage with in their own homes, the diversity of beliefs among the community was something the school wanted to be “mindful” of.

“For some Christians, references to demons can feel deeply uncomfortable because they associate them with spiritual forces opposed to God and goodness,” Allington wrote, per the British public service broadcaster.

He added that the school was not asking parents to tell their children there was something wrong with enjoying the movie or its songs, should they align with their family’s own personal beliefs.

The school’s role was, according to Allington, “simply ... to help children understand that some of their peers may hold different views and to explore how we can respect and support those peers in upholding their faith”.

It’s not the first time pop culture has resulted in a “satanic panic”. After kicking off in 1980 with the release of Michelle Remembers (which has since been discredited), conservative Christians became concerned with tabletop role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons (though creators Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson were themselves devout Christians).

Then, as J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter book series grew in popularity, some conservative households banned the novels for their promotion of the occult. “Behind Harry Potter hides the signature of the king of darkness, the devil,” said the late Father Gabriele Amorth, who was the late Pope Benedict XVI’s “caster-out of demons” at the Vatican.

Ji-young Yoo (voice of Zoey), Arden Cho (voice of Rumi) and May Hong (voice of Mira).

KPop Demon Hunters, which has been available for streaming in Australia since June, became Netflix’s most-watched movie of all time in August. It took 91 days to rack up 325 million views – surpassing the previous record holder, Red Notice, by 94 million views – and is, per the Los Angeles Times, a driving force behind Netflix’s third-quarter revenue jumping 17 per cent to $US11.5 billion ($17.7 billion).

Part of its popularity can be attributed to the catchy original songs, three of which – Golden, Your Idol and Soda Pop – have been mainstays on radio for months.

Golden, which has been nominated for a Grammy Award, was dethroned from its #1 spot on the Apple Music Top 100 (US) singles chart only when the most powerful woman in music, Taylor Swift, released her new album The Life of a Showgirl in October. It’s still in the top three, behind The Fate of Ophelia and Olivia Dean’s Man I Need.

But to ignore the film’s narrative and its themes would be a disservice to creator and co-director Maggie Kang.

The story is centred on fictional K-pop girl group HUNTR/X, whose three members – Rumi (voiced by Arden Cho/Ejae), Mira (May Hong/Audrey Nuna), and Zoey (Ji-young Yoo/Rei Ami) – secretly fight demons and protect humans from them. In the process, they show those watching at home the power of self-acceptance and friendship.

It’s been so popular that Lilliput Church of England Infant School may have to issue another ban in 2029. That’s when, per Variety, Netflix and Sony plan to release the film’s sequel.

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