Despite being a great tool for fans to connect with idols, live streams can cause some serious
troubles since whatever idols do and say would be recorded immediately. If there's anything
problematic coming up, there's no way going back, Here are some situations where idols'
controversial behaviors were caught while streaming live.
1. GOT7’s JB On May 13, JB logged in to his Instagram account
and started a live stream to a small talk with fans. At first, things were completely
normal: JB laid comfortably on his bed, thanking his supporters, talking about his effort to
adjust to the new environment and so on, just normal things one idol usually shares with
fans. Then he got up and thus moved his camera angle, which revealed certain parts of his
room, including a wall full of very questionable photos. Some have naked women posing in sexual
positions, and some… well, show directly women’s private part. And as any Kpop stans
would expect, the situation blew up on every social media. While some in the fandom thought
this to be a funny accident, many were hell mad to the point they canceled him, deeming
those photos to be smutty and absolutely disrespectful to women, especially when most of his fans
are female. Things started spiraling down when it reached
the Korean public. Just after one hour of this incident landing on Theqoo, more than
1000 comments were posted about how “disgusting” and “creepy” JB was.
After that, international fans joined in to defend their idols by pointing out that one
photo was just JB's side profile.
They even discovered that another photo was an artwork of a famous photographer - Youngwoong
Yim. “They are just art, and as a grown man JB has every right to enjoy any kind of
art he likes and is inspired from. Also those photos do not violate any law so what’s
the problem?", as one fan put it.
But the other side wouldn't accept the explanation easily. According to their point of view:
“Yes, people are allowed to enjoy this kind of thing, everyone does that, no big deal.
But if you have to print lady's bits out and tape them onto your wall to come up with ideas
then you have some serious problems, both morally and mentally. You are just a pervert”.
And that was just one reason - some people were also outraged because there could be
a high chance that many underage viewers had watched the live stream and seen these inappropriate
images. Things could have eased off after a few hours if JB had turned off his live
stream immediately and apologized. But to many fans' disappointment, he went on Instagram
again and hit like to a meme photo of his controversial wall. To those trying to stand
up to him at first, this behavior was considered extremely disrespectful.
Before the whole fuss could cause any further troubles, both H1GHR MUSIC and JB posted apologies
regarding the accident and promised to be extra careful next time. However, JB is still
under fire as Korean netizens do not think his apology on an Instagram story that only
lasts 24 hours was truly sincere.
2. EXO's Chen In April 2018, Chen once caused a major stir
after his Vlive with CBX. The live stream started off with all fun and laughter as Chen,
Baekhyun and Xiumin played Jenga, what could possibly go wrong? Well, after the game ended
with Chen losing, the other members decided to apply ridiculous makeup on Chen's face
as a punishment, and this is when things swerved into the territory of: “blackface”.
So what exactly has Chen done that led to this issue? In the live stream, Baekhyun applied
a lot of lipstick on Chen's lips, making them unnaturally large. What's problematic is Chen’s
remark right after: “I look like Michol.” For your information, Michol is a character
from the Korean cartoon show “Dooly the Little Dinosaur". In recent years this character
has been heavily criticized by international fans as he is deemed to be a racist symbol
for Koreans to mock black people. Many Korean celebrities have impersonated Michol in the
past for fun, like APINK's Bomi on a skit of SNL Korea, or Crush on King of Masked Singer,
and all of them were called out. After watching the Vlive, many EXO-Ls were extremely disappointed
that their idol did not even learn the lesson and still used the character to crack a joke.
Things got worse as Chen even added another comment: “This is Kunta Kinte right?”
and the other members burst into laughter. But then again, it was not funny at all for
the black community. Kunta Kinte, the main character of the mini-series “Root", is
a slave who is taken out of his country and forced to work in America. Now, Kunta Kinte
has become a symbol for black empowerment, so mentioning his name to make fun is disrespecting
the history and cultural significance of the black community as a whole.
Some fans tried to shield Chen, saying that “kunta kinte" was just a Korean slang term
for large lips so he had no ill means. Nevertheless, it was still used with a negative tone so
many fans demanded an apology. But so far all they get is nothing more than silence.
3. Hinapia’s Yaebin Speaking of racism, the former member of Pristin
- Yaebin was also caught in a huge controversy when she went live on Instagram last year.
During the live broadcast, Yaebin was rapping to the song Super Bass by Nicki Minaj and
the “N word” just slipped right out of her mouth. She realized her mistake right
when the comments about that word flooded in her live stream, and Yaebin quickly responded
to them. Yaebin said that she was well aware many people found the word sensitive and she
did try her best to censor, but her attempt was not really successful. After the live
stream ended, she went straight to apologize on her Instagram story: “My intention really
wasn't bad. It came from my lack of education… I will educate myself more about it. There's
no excuse for what I did. I'm sorry again.”
Though many thought that the incident was just an honest mistake and her apology was
extremely thoughtful, some stans still were not totally pleased with that explanation.
Many pointed out that Yaebin herself knew the word was not right, yet still said it.
At this point, fans are just tired of some Kpop idols' ignorance of black culture and
use their lack of education as a cover. The damage was done and it was too late to go
back anyway. One fan just went on expressing her vexation on Twitter: “I don't wanna
hear any Kpop stans defending idols when they say it anymore by saying "they're uneducated".
Yaebin said it was SENSITIVE and knew she shouldn't be saying it. this proves idols
are more aware than you think they are and you shouldn't be cutting them slack.”
4. Wanna One The “National Boy Group" once received brutal
backlash for the members' behaviors on Mnet’s “Star Live” in 2018.
In this situation, it seemed like Woojin, who was holding the camera at the time, had
absolutely no idea that the stream had already gone live, so he moved it around, capturing
the members at some very unrefined moments. Kang Daniel, the center of the group, shouted
out loud: “Why aren’t we getting our earnings?”, and got responded enthusiastically by Jihoon:
“Yeah. Why are we only getting 20%?”. Then Ong Seongwoo and Jihoon both complained
about their lack of sleep and their heavy schedule. Even though a female staff has asked
them to settle for the live stream, the boys sure had a lot to vent before putting on the
“flawless idol filter". Daniel straight-up revealed that he just had a dump that morning
while Seungwoon declared that that was the best time to cuss and spilled out a whole
F-bomb all over the place. If you thought that was all, some member in the background
even yelled: “Dae-ddal-gak” and got replied with “only the pretty ones”. The problem
is that, in Korean, “Dae-ddal-gak” means a very sexual act, well… involving hands…
So now Wanna One was also associated with “lewd" behavior.
As anyone can guess, their rude manners were later slammed hard by Korean netizens. Fans
who followed them since the beginning and believed their perfect act was sure cast down.
The pretty boys’ image has then turned into dust, leaving fans with some ill-mannered
schoolboys that liked complaining and making sex jokes. Many even demanded these young
idols to disband and retire. But lots of fans still spoke up for Wanna One as they felt
relatable to their idols. Their actions only made them more “human" and to be fair, no
one was harmed during the process, even the staff laughed with them.
Nonetheless, all Wanna One, YMC Entertainment, and even Mnet had to post apologies regarding
the situation before things blew out of proportion. After all the incidents above, fans need to
learn not to always put their idols on a pedestal. and understand that idols are normal humans,
and they can still make mistakes all the time. So, which case do you find unacceptable and
which one is not that blameworthy? Do you know any other idols caught in some problematic
acts while streaming live? Comment down below to share your thoughts with us. Also, don’t
forget to like, share, and subscribe to BeBossTV for more great content. Thank you for watching!