Hi everyone, welcome to another video of the previous week's controversies.
So in this video, we’re going to walk you guys through the details of the most-discussed
cases circulated in the Kpop industry recently, as well as how netizens react to each.
Are you curious about them?
Without any further ado, let’s jump right into the video to get a deeper view into the
following controversies with us.
1.
Newjeans got accused of allegedly copying the lightstick design of B.A.P
So here we will kick off our video with the first controversy regarding NewJeans’ lately-released
lightstick.
Recently, on October 19, NewJeans’ official social media accounts had revealed the name
of NewJeans’ fanclub, Bunnies, as well as uploaded a short video to introduce their
official lightstick, named Binky Bong after 100 days of their debut.
The lightstick in the video looks similar to a white bunny, with 2 letters “N” and
“J” in the eyes standing for NewJeans, which then after a rotation, change to a blue
star and a pink heart.
Obviously NewJeans’ fans are on cloud nine when hearing this news, especially when Binky
Bong will be available in the first quarter of 2023 on Weverse Shop.
However, many soon pointed out that NewJeans’ lightstick has immediately reminded them of
B.A.P’s Matoki, which also has a design of a rabbit with two big ears.
They even picked on the girl group, stating that NewJeans will never be at the same level
as B.A.P because no matter how hard they try to copy B.A.P’s lightstick, Matoki is completely
more unique.
On the part of Bunnies, they immediately stand up to protect their idols from malicious comments,
saying that some netizens are so ridiculous as they are obviously trying to mess with
Newjeans since the 2 lightsticks have no resemblance regarding colors, shape, and other details
except for the rabbit theme.
Even some Babyz (B.A.P’s fandom) also claimed that they couldn’t find any similarity between
the 2 designs.
According to them, while Matoki looks like an alien, Binky Bong is literally a bunny
or more like a “U” symbol to them at first glance.
Plus, since B.A.P has been disbanded for a long time and is no longer relevant, it doesn't
matter if NewJeans’ lightstick looks like B.A.P's lightstick or not.
All in all, NewJeans’ fans believe that netizens need to stop intentionally digging
up dirt on the girl group for such a nonsense and baseless reason as well as trying to create
controversies to drag them down just because they’re jealous of a rookie whose reputation
is skyrocketing and has no scandal so far.
2.
Ateez and Dreamcatcher got criticized for pushing their concert during the national
mourning period of the Itaewon tragedy.
Here we come to the next controversy.
Lately, the deadly stampede that occurred in Itaewon has stolen many lives, leaving
great grief and loss for the entire Korean people.
The Korean government also designated the period from October 30 until the situation
is brought under control as a period of national mourning of the tragedy.
What’s more, many entertainment activities were postponed or even canceled to express
sympathy toward the victims and their families.
One of them is SM, who has canceled its annual Halloween party after also.
However, recently, Ateez and Dream Catcher were put under harsh criticism for holding
their concert during this time.
Accordingly, Ateez’s world tour “THE FELLOWSHIP: BREAK THE WALL,” would last for two days
from October 29 to 30, while Dream Catcher also threw their “2022 DREAMCATCHER' Apocalypse:
Broken Halloween” world tour from October 29 to 30.
These decisions soon got on many netizens’ nerves.
They criticized the 2 groups for being so hungry for money that they shamelessly pushed
their concerts during the national mourning period.
Some fans even turned their back on Ateez and Dream Catcher, stating that these groups
are so greedy and cold-hearted to the point that they didn’t even spend time for the
victim commemoration.
On the other hand, there were some fans defended the two groups, claiming that canceling a
concert which was prepared for months is not that easy, especially for small and medium-sized
companies like Happy Face Entertainment and KQ Entertainment because it could incur significant
cost and bring about negative effect which couldn’t be handled or afforded.
Particularly, each offline concert requires projected millions of dollars for production
preparation and a huge number of staff members.
Not only that, idols are not the ones who can decide whether the concert could be canceled
or not as it depended on the company’s settlement, so fans believed that the two groups shouldn’t
be criticized as this is not their fault.
Moreover, some also spotted that in every concert, Ateez did show their respect to the
national mourning period as they always wore black ribbons in their arms when performing.
Thus, they said that netizens should get to know the situation thoroughly before throwing
spiteful words at idols as they obviously don’t deserve the hate.
3.
VIXX’s Hongbin called reporters trash when denying his drug-using rumor on Twitch
So, let’s get into the details of the last controversy.
Recently, according to what the Nowon Police Station in Seoul reported, on November 4th,
a man was arrested on charges of violating the Narcotics Control Act right at his home
in Gwangjin-gu, Seoul after reportedly being found using illegal methamphetamine.
For further information, the police revealed that this man is in his 20s, and used to be
a member of a former idol group debuting in 2012 but then stopped pursuing his idol career
path after the group disbanded.
As soon as the news circulated all over the mass media, many netizens, as well as digital
press suspected that the man arrested is the former member of VIXX, Hongbin, based on the
fact that Hongbin also debuted in 2012 and changed from being an idol to a BJ (Internet
broadcast jockey).
Didn’t wait for his fans’ defending, the former idol himself soon responded to the
drug charges allegation to prevent misunderstandings and trouble.
Specifically, later on the same day, Hongbin uploaded a video on his own Twitch channel
with a caption: “Today is a holiday”.
In his video, he angrily stated that: “I’m trending everywhere today because of those
garbage articles.
Reporters are trash.
I can state confidently that I am a victim of those allegations.
I stream for 11 hours each day, when would I have time to do drugs?”.
Hongbin expressed his anger toward reporters when being titled as a drug-addicted idol
by saying that: “Who would use drugs and then receive physical therapy?
I’m really upset.”
Soon enough, his strong statement hit many headlines.
Along with that, many netizens stand on his side and defend Hongbin, stating that they
are 100% sure that the man who was arrested for illegally using drugs is not Hongbin because
in fact, VIXX isn’t disbanded yet.
Instead, the members are now just focusing on their individual work.
Besides, there are many groups making their debut in 2012, so why did people jump right
into conclusion that it is Hongbin who is facing drug charges?
Some also bursted into anger toward reporters, criticizing them for publishing misleading
and false news without any valid or visible evidence just to draw attention.
While many are satisfied with Hongbin’s reaction, others claimed that it is such a
blanket statement of him when calling reporters as trash because not all of them spread baseless
rumors.
Thus, as a celebrity, Hongbin needs to pay attention to what he said and avoid using
extreme words to protect his image in front of the public eye and prevent further troubles.
That is also the end of today's video.
What is your opinion regarding these controversies?