Being one of the trainees with shortest training period under SM Entertainment, and also one
of the rarest individuals to pass their audition just by striking some random poses and showcasing
the remarkably handsome visual, it doesn’t take long for Lucas to become the top famous
member of NCT’s Chinese sub-unit, WayV.
However, his glorious moment was short-lived and when SM announced that he would return
in the act’s next comeback, netizens’ reaction toward him was full of anger and
detestation.
So, what has really happened that made people hold such a huge grudge against Lucas despite
him having been the most popular member of WayV?
Let’s find out real quick in today’s video.
Right when SM Entertainment was about to release the duo-debut of Lucas and Henry, Lucas’
fans were all over the moon for seeing their idol get the attention he deserved, things
suddenly took a sharp turn for the worse.
On August 23, 2021, a netizen who claimed to be Lucas’ ex-girlfriend, accused him
of severing gaslighting as well as emotional abuse when they were still in a relationship.
Along with the scathing allegation, the girl also released various proofs backing up her
points, saying that she wasn’t just another delulu trying to destroy Lucas’ career.
On Twitter, this netizen’s account was @ooooshiiim and starting off the thread, she explained
in detail her relationship with Lucas, claiming he approached her first, they started dating
not long after that, she then bought him lots of expensive gifts yet the relationship still
doomed eventually.
She even posted screenshots of their chats and hotel receipts, claiming that Lucas always
wanted her to spend money.
While it sounded weird because girls should never be the ones to pay for everything in
a relationship, let alone in a relationship with a famous and rich Kpop star, she said
she used to have no problems with that because Lucas said the company might catch him dating
if he used his card.
Despite all the evidence, including photos never seen before of Lucas, fans still chose
to stand on his side as according to them, the temporal coincidence between Lucas’
upcoming duo-debut and the girl’ allegation was too fishy and everything must have been
fabricated to bring down the reputation of Lucas.
However, things weren’t as simple as they thought as seemingly being charged with courage
after reading the post of the first girl, on August 24, 2021, two other Chinese netizens
came forward with similar claims about Lucas’ misbehavior.
The scandal grew and soon became the most talked-about topic in Kpop, given that NCT
is one of the top idol groups with a massive fandom.
According to the second Chinese girl, Lucas was manipulating her to buy designer clothes
and the proof was a range of receipts, chat screenshots, and photos of him wearing the
clothing.
Also from this point that the allegation about Lucas’ badmouthing his members, especially
some most famous ones in WayV, started as this girl shared Lucas had several times expressed
his true feelings about NCT, complaining that they didn’t listen to him, didn’t work
as a team, didn’t put in many efforts and had no skills.
The story ended when she said Lucas broke up using the excuse of having a packed schedule
and probably because she had heard on the grapevine a thing or two about Lucas’ dating
history, she also confronted him about his flirting with other girls, which of course
he had denied doing so.
Just several hours after that, a third alleged victim, who was also Chinese, came forward
with similar allegations against Lucas.
In the thread on her Twitter account whose ID was @p_note99, she spoke up about Lucas'
gaslighting situation, alleging to be his ex-girlfriend.
Starting off, this girl mentioned that she didn't want to bring it up as they ended the
relationship on good terms.
However, she decided to bring everything to light after realizing her experiences were
similar to the original accuser and the timings collided, implying that Lucas was with both
simultaneously.
She explained that she was a fan of NCT, and Lucas was the first celebrity she supported.
She went to fansigns and wrote a letter which also contained her Instagram and Weibo.
Then not late after that, she received messages from a private account of Lucas.
According to this girl, Lucas opened up about his life during his trainee days, confessed
that he feared getting caught by his agency about their love, and once even faked illness
to not star in a variety show.
Talking of variety shows, she also said Lucas hated the way Running Man China always edited
him to look foolish and clueless.
He also mentioned he actually wanted to have a more mature and charming image rather than
having to always be a clown to garner attention.
Backing up her accusation, this netizen posted screenshots of spreadsheets, fansign receipts,
flights, and hotel records, proving her timing overlapped with one of the other alleged victims.
Being aware of how critical the situation was, on August 25, only two days after the
triple allegations, Lucas released a handwritten apology letter on Instagram, directly apologizing
for the “wrongful actions” and in the past and would deeply reflect on the things
he did.
On the same day, Label V, an official subsidiary label of SM Entertainment exclusively for
their sub-unit WayV, released a statement and suspends the upcoming release of the song,
music video, and all related content of "Jalapeño" by WayV's Lucas & Hendery.
With the official apology of Lucas and the announcement of cancellation for his duo-debut,
people thought the beef had already ended on a low note.
Yet, to their surprise, everything was pushed even further and the note it ended on was
even sourer.
On August 26, the first girl posted a second thread on the incident, giving a deeper insight
into Lucas’ allegation of looking down on his members, his staff and even his manager.
Specifically, during a Thailand trip, the manager made a critical mistake to the group
yet thanks to Lucas, everything was solved.
Since then, he had most power in the group and that’s why the manager had seen him
leaving the dorm multiple times to see her but didn’t say anything as Lucas had got
the upper hand.
She also said he had a severe cigarette addiction, which made him suffer a lot for not being
able to smoke in front of MV directors.
Lots of unexpected details about his past were also revealed by this girl as according
to what Lucas told her, he got laid for the first time in a Chinese massage parlor, used
to be a gangster as a student and thanks to fighting so well, he was even invited to join
the gang by the boss.
Just within four days, Lucas encountered the very first perfect storm in his career, and
probably in the history of Kpop generally speaking, because he was not only caught up
on one but also two most detrimental scandals leading to a dead-end career of most male
idols: dating while at the peak of their career and having a wicked attitude to both his act
and his staff.
Because of the striking similarities among the girls’ stories, not only the public
but even fans eventually bought their words.
The first wave of criticism came when Lucas released his handwritten apology letter as
according to Knetz, it made no sense for an idol who built up his solid career thanks
to South Korea yet when something bad happened, he apologized in Chinese.
That was not to mention how the very first victim to speak up was South Korean and altogether,
it only created the impression that he just said sorry for the show.
On international Kpop forums, Lucas was also fiercely bashed and in one comment, he was
even called a “prostitute” for acting like one.
Criticism sequencing criticism, on August 31, his biggest Chinese bar shut down and
while the admins said it was just the aftermath of constant internal conflicts where loyal
Lucas’ fans in the Bar were eventually pushed out of the fanbase by the "disloyal management,"
netizens believed their closure still had a lot to do with his scandals as Chinese fanbases
had long been famous for their strong support regardless of situations.
Even Chinese fans were now furious at his actions and demanded Lucas leave both WayV
and NCT because of the terrible damage he brought to the group’s reputation.
On Weibo, angry comments with thousands of likes asked if he had especially apologized
to Hendery, whose career was put at risk just by the mess he created, and destroyed lots
of merch related to Lucas.
Without the support of his biggest fanbar, seasonal fans and worst of all, the general
public, Lucas’ career was put on hold indefinitely by SM Entertainment and from the top famous
member of WayV and NCT, he became the most hated member just within several days.
Following the controversy, the brands who collaborated with him have just taken their
first steps.
Gucci has specifically removed all posts and images relating to Lucas and not long after
that, Burberry made a similar effort.
GUERLAIN also took down his images though he was the main face running for their campaign
at the time.
Running Man China, aka the show in which Lucas was one of the favorite members, also took
his picture down from their Facebook poster cover and never mentioned him after the scandal.
The smoldering yet detrimental aftermath of his scandals is so significant that in July
2020 when HYBE decided to kick out Kim Garam following her bullying allegations, netizens
still called out Lucas and demanded SM Entertainment do the same.
Most recently, on February 1 this year, Lucas made an official comeback to the industry
by appearing side by side with CEO Lee Sung Soo, sparking the speculation that he would
be returning as a member of NCT soon.
However, similar to the previous times, netizens’ reactions were extreme.
In the comment section, they not only called him trash but so was SM Entertainment.
As rumor had it that his upcoming comeback would be with SuperM, fans of other members
like Baekhyun, Taemin and Kai were even more triggered to see him potentially in the same
frame as their idols.
However, there were also fans defending that everything about the scandal was fabricated
as one, the sofa in the OP’s picture of Lucas sleeping looked extremely similar to
that in WayV’s dorm, two, the voice chat the last girl used to accuse him was also
the one he sent to fans on Bubble and three, because Lucas’s fingers were slender and
long, there was no way the finger in this picture was his.
Still, because reactions to his apology were still heavily polarized and for a long time,
SM Entertainment has been infamous for putting words in their artists’ mouths to quickly
ease out the public anger, even when there were no bad deeds committed like in the case
of NCT’s Taeyong, it remains unclear about Lucas was the bad guy or just pained out to
be bad.
So, do you think there is something shady behind Lucas' scandal?
And if he is gonna actually make a comeback this year, will you continue supporting him?