Is racism the problem?

Even before this group existed, whenever there was any talks of a Korean agency debuting a male group with western boys like DearAlice or "NCT Hollywood', it's always been made a huge joke with memes like "Robert oppa" or comparing them to cringey stuff like Chad Future or EXP EDITION. Western girls in the idol world definitely get hate too (Lana, X:IN, Black swan) but I don't think it's on the same level unless it's a group like Kkachi where the girls are clearly not actually up to par to be actual idols and look silly and amateur. Do you think racism is an issue with the lack of interest and even outright derision of this group? Not so much from an Asian audience but from western kpop fans that seem to hate seeing white people in the Asian idol industry? Legit some of the SM rookie boys have more fans than DearAlice and we don't even know anything about them.