Oli London is a British internet personality, musician, and television star who became known for his obsession with Korean culture, and particularly the K-Pop singer Jimin of the band Bangtan Boys, or BTS. He gained notoriety for undergoing surgeries to look like Jimin, which was widely covered on television. However, he later started transitioning back to British. A controversial figure, he once identified as a genderfluid trans woman but has now joined the anti-gender movement.
Early Life
Oli London fell in love with Korean culture, K-Pop music, and BTS band member Jimin after moving to Seoul, South Korea in 2013 for a year to teach English.
Career
After returning to England, Oli London underwent several plastic surgeries to look like his idol, Jimin. In 2018, during an appearance on the British documentary series Hooked on the Look, he revealed spending more than $100,000 to fund eighteen plastic surgeries to achieve a look like Jimin. He also appeared on the series Rich Kids Go Skint and was seen in shows like The X Factor Series 15 and Celebs Go Dating that same year. Hugely inspired by K-Pop, he also started his own musical journey around this time.
Oli, who joined YouTube on August 26, 2018, uploaded his first video, a teaser for his debut original song, titled Perfection, on December 4th that year. He shifted to Los Angeles in 2019 and launched the official music video for his first song Perfection through his VEVO account, OliLondonVEVO, on February 3. While he continued to upload several more music videos for his songs on his VEVO account, on his main channel, he also shared clips from his appearances as guests on various television shows and his interviews.
Controversy
Despite his fondness for Korean culture and K-Pop music, Oli London was criticized by several K-Pop artists for being disrespectful to the culture of Korea, with some people even calling him racist for cultural appropriation. Furthermore, he declared himself non-binary during Pride month in 2021, changing his pronouns to they/them and neopronouns like “kor/ean and ji/min”. In early 2022, he declared being a genderfluid trans woman and revealed his willingness to undergo more surgeries to look like singer Rosé from Blackpink. He later declared that he was no longer trans, announcing his new pronouns “He/Him KOR/EAN”. However, following his conversion to Christianity, he began identifying with the anti-gender movement and even tweeted, “I cannot take people that have pronouns in their bio seriously”.
Family Life
Oli London’s father is an interior designer and his mother is a housewife. Obsessed with BTS member Jimin, he married a cardboard cut-out of Jimin at the Las Vegas Wedding Chapel in 2020, presided over by an Elvis Presley impersonator. He made several videos talking about his relationship with Jimin. He announced divorcing the cutout in 2022, citing the hatred he had received on the internet in the past two years. He further mentioned that he would not undergo surgeries anymore and revealed converting to Christianity in November 2022.
