With high regard for attitude in Korea, Kpop idols are always expected to behave politely
and respectfully to their co-workers, fans and also the staff.
Only some little moment of misbehaving can ruin their entire career, therefore, most
idols never fail to show up with perfect images.
However, there are some cases when idols didn’t pay too much attention to their behaviors
that they get themselves called “self-centered”.
NingNing (aespa)
Since debut, NingNing has always been renowned for her ice-cold appearance, exuding strong
and unapproachable charisma.
This really helps her in fashion photoshoots as well as stage performances, where she stands
out brightly compared to other idols of her generation.
Even a short moment of the female idol simply walking into a store and surfing her phone
went viral on Twitter thanks to her chic vibe.
However, NingNing’s coolness is said to go quite too far and even affects her attitude
in real life.
Recently, aespa had scheduled in France for Paris Fashion Week alongside their own fanmeeting.
Besides being praised for her charming visuals, NingNing was involved in an absurd controversy
over her attitude toward foreign fans.
Specifically, after participating in the SS23 show of Givenchy, the brand to which aespa
is holding the global ambassador position, all 4 members went back to a hotel to prepare
for the after-party and there were many MYs gathered in front of the hotel’s door to
wait and greet them.
However, a clip catching NingNing being allegedly rude toward fans has gained mass attention
on social media.
In the video, NingNing was seen walking through a group of fans who were shouting her name,
the female idol didn’t respond but constantly covered her ears, headed down and carried
on heading straight to the car.
This indifferent reaction of her was totally opposite to that of 3 other members, who bowed
and interacted with their fans enthusiastically.
After getting in the car, NingNing seemed quite uncomfortable, sitting down with a somber
look on her face.
Many noticed that Karina even tapped lightly on Ningning’s head to remind her about her
attitude.
However, the main vocalist of aespa still showed a frown face and even folded her arms.
Needless to say, that incident immediately triggered frustration among netizens.
Many felt that NingNing’s behavior of covering her ear while walking past fans was unacceptable
because that action spoke to her displeasure with the cheers of fans and MYs didn’t deserve
to be ignored by their idol.
Worse, NingNing was even labeled “the rudest idol of gen 4” and asked to go back to China
by some angry Kpop fans.
However, as soon as NingNing’s fans saw this post, they got disappointed with how
harsh and ridiculous the netizens were.
According to a fan account of NingNing on twitter, aespa was seen drinking some wine
and taking pictures on a bridge.
During all that time, NingNing constantly touched her ears, so it was likely that the
female idol might suffer from earache or buzzing after the flight.
On October 8th, it was confirmed that NingNing was misunderstood when a fan pointed out that
the female idol was just adjusting her airpod to prevent it from falling off, not to avoid
hearing her fans.
In fact, NingNing’s gesture was understandable.
She once show off her airpods on an entertainment show and said “I always carry my AirPods
with me.
I have to listen to music.
I would feel uncomfortable without it”, revealing her extraordinary affection.
The video that went viral on Twitter was also considered to be edited.
At the very last second, it could be seen that NingNing was raising her hand to wave
at fans if you play the clip at 0.25 speed.
Fans condemned that the video was clipped out of the context intentionally to defame
NingNing, and no one had the right to judge a person’s attitude by a 10-second clip.
Others pointed out that this was the late moment of a very long and busy day for the
female idol, so her tiredness could be accepted.
Besides, throughout the trip to Paris, NingNing constantly impressed fans with her friendly
and cute interactions.
Many pointed out that these videos truly showcased NingNing’s attitude towards fans rather
than an out-of-context clip.
Na Jaemin (NCT Dream)
Jaemin is considered a talented idol with bright visuals and a key member of NCT Dream,
he was also regarded as one of the top male idols that had great influence on Kpop.
However, soon after the acknowledgement, the male idol was caught up in several controversies
about his personality.
Specifically, in April 2021, NCT Dream was invited to the “Culture Show”, where they
were asked to participate in a challenge.
Their task was to dance to the song they turned to on the roulette round.
In all 3 rounds, NCT Dream was picked to dance to their newest song, “Hello Future”.
The second time “Hello Future” was played, all members headed to the center to dance,
except for Jaemin.
Opposite to his groupmates’ enthusiasm, Jaemin acted like he didn’t want to dance
anymore and just sit still.
Netizens pointed out that Jaemin kept his allegedly lazy dance to round three and even
when it came to the part where he stood in the center, the male idol still danced superficially.
Needless to say, netizens got angry with Jaemin, commenting that his attitude was too bad compared
to other members of NCT Dream and that was unacceptable, especially when he was a member
of a popular group.
They said that being an idol is his choice and his job, so he shouldn’t appear so bored
and unprofessional like that.
Some even said that “I’m not surprised that this came out from him”, implying that
Jaemin has always been such a persona.
This was not the first time Jaemin came in for criticism for his attitude.
When NCT Dream participated in “Day6 Kiss the Radio” of KBS Cool FM, he once again
became the center of hatred for his allegedly improper and disrespectful gesture.
Specifically, when being asked, “What is the song you listened to the most?”, Jaemin
just lengthened his answer “A song I listened to the most… it’s a real matter hmm.
The song I listened to the most is…”.
His reaction to such an easy question was criticized, as netizens believed it not only
showed disrespect to the interviewer, but also affected the show he was attending.
In the later part of the radio, Jaemin just kept giving shocking answers.
The most noticeable was when the MC asked Jaemin why he had come late.
Without hesitation, the male idol responded, “I wanted to come late”.
Jaemin even kept saying “Sexy, sexy” while other members of NCT Dream were talking.
This allegedly childish action was deemed inappropriate and disrespectful to all of
his co-workers as well as the audience, making netizens find it hard to understand why he
did such nonsense things to grab attention.
However, to be fair, radio shows are supposed to be fun and a little bit quirky, so some
of Jaemin's jokes were in keeping with the spirit of the show and not as disrespectful
or inappropriate as netizens said.
Plus, this happened while Jaemin was still young and inexperienced.
After one year, the center of NCT Dream changed significantly and was regarded for his proper
personality and good manners.
It is good when an idol knows what his imperfection is and learns how to fix it.
V (BTS)
Alongside the fame he gained as the top visual of the whole Kpop industry and one of the
most popular members of BTS, every single gesture of V is speculated carefully by netizens,
who yearned to find mistakes and flaws in idols.
Recently, a short clip of V became the target of those people and the male idol was heavily
accused of his behavior.
Specifically, on October 8th, BTS attended The Fact Music Award (TMA) held in Olympic
Park Gymnastics Stadium.
This was the first time this music award was organized after 3 years of COVID-19 so Kpop
fans really looked forward to the event as 2022 witnessed a fierce competition in the
Kpop industry, with several explosions in music of different groups.
This time, BTS won the lion’s share of the award.
They earned the biggest award of TMA, Daesang, along with 6 other cups.
BTS’s official visuals, Jin, also gained an award for himself, the Fan N Star Choice
Award.
Fans as well as netizens were so excited because BTS’s devotion to music had been well acknowledged.
However, among all the compliments and praises for BTS’s huge win at TMA, a short clip
cut from the music award sparked a controversy.
In the clip, BTS was on stage to receive their Global Fan N Star Award.
While Jin was stepping towards the micro, maybe with the intention of making a speech,
V was said to suddenly push him aside to stand in the center.
A netizen pointed out that Jimin also noticed that and he seemed to be uncomfortable with
V’s behavior.
After that, Jin’s solo-fans went furious with the way V acted toward his sunbae, saying
that he was so full of himself that he did that action right on the stage of a big music
award.
They even claimed that V was so jealous of Jin's individual achievement that he took
over Jin’s center position just to seek attention.
There are also comments saying that this was not the first time V pushed Jin, and they
felt sorry for Jin to be in the same group with such a problematic member.
On Twitter, the hashtag #OutV was used numerous times with tons of netizens asking V to apologize
to Jin.
Immediately, V’s fans quickly countered all the accusations to defend their idol.
According to them, the clip was obviously cropped out of context to defame V. In the
full version uploaded video, Jin intentionally moved V towards the micro so that V could
stand in the center but V insisted that Jin must be the one being in that position since
he was the one to receive the award.
Another opinion was that the two just playfully pushed each other because none of them wanted
to be in the center out of embarrassment.
It was also known that V and Jin have a good brotherhood in real life and often tease each
other like that.
Some fans even found the owner of the original post quite ridiculous when this person tried
to defame V that way while ARMYs all know that V and Jin are the best of friends.
They all agreed that this was done by a hater of V, who kept nit-picking the male idol out
of jealousy.
Being top stars of the Kpop industry, it is unavoidable that every single action of idols
would be dissected at anytime.
Though this issue is really annoying and irritating, it still happens everyday and shows no signs
of stopping anytime soon.
So, which of the above cases is the most ridiculous to you?