The many cases of s*xual harassment that female idols had to go through have always been a
much criticized aspect of the Kpop industry, but such cases often don’t receive as much
attention when the victims are of the opposite gender. In today’s video, we'll talk about
7 s*xual harassment incidents concerning male idols and the inappropriate behaviours that
they were subjected to.
1. EXO’s Kai
Earlier this March, comedian Park Na Rae was receiving huge backlash from netizens for
the crude remarks that she made in her Youtube show, Hey Na Rae.
Among them is a joke she made in reference to what Kai once said in the variety show
Knowing Brothers, in which the idol misheard his teammate’s words, thought that he had
to guess a two-letter word for something inside his underpants, and looked down in confusion.
The event must’ve made such a strong impression on Na Rae that she still remembered it when
3 years had passed. Taking full advantage of the show’s 15+
rating, Na Rae gave a nonchalant answer to what the two-letter word for something inside
Kai’s pants was: a ‘gochu’ (aka ‘pepper’ or the male gen*tal.)
Kai’s situation in Knowing Brothers was a genuine mishearing, but there wasn’t anything
unintentional about Na Rae referring to another person’s private part like that.
Her show was eventually cancelled with all of its content deleted for all the inappropriate
comments and behaviours she’d sprinkled throughout, but her remark towards Kai had
later prompted police investigation for alleged s*xual harassment.
Sadly, this wasn’t the first time that Kai was a victim of harassment. In 2013, sasaeng
fans were reportedly touching Kai in inappropriate places in addition to pushing him and badly
injuring his legs when EXO was at the Incheon airport departing for an overseas schedule.
From obsessive fans to a renowned public figure, Kai just can’t seem to catch a break when
all he did was breathe and be himself.
2. Zico
In 2016, on the topic of idol group members with tattoos, the cast of the talk show Video
Star were specifically discussing Zico’s as his brother, Taewoon, was invited as a
guest. Taewoon explained that Zico’s tattoo of
their mother on his left chest was the idol’s way of keeping her close to his heart and
emphasize her importance in his life.
The heartwarming feeling Taewoon evoked didn’t last long when entertainer Kim Sook cut in
with an unexpected comment. In her opinion, as meaningful as the tattoo
was, it would be awkward for whoever married Zico in the future since the girl’s mother-in-law
would be staring at her the entire time they were...‘doing it all night’.
Taewoon salvaged the situation by saying that Zico probably didn’t think that far and
the conversation ended shortly after, but netizens were gravely disappointed by the
inappropriate comment made by Kim Sook. A discourse on the remark was taken onto Instiz,
with some fans regarding the situation as s*xual harassment towards Zico.
No matter what anyone says, it’s best to leave things like this for Zico’s future
lover to figure out
3. B1A4 and Infinite
Both B1A4 and Infinite were the victims of several SNL Korea’s production team members’
improper acts. The incident first came to light when a video
of the show’s female staff rushing towards B1A4 and touching the members circulated around
the internet.
Among them was the popular comedian and actress Lee Se Yong, who received the most criticism
for not acting in accordance with her status as a celebrity as well as a crew member.
Two of the B1A4 members looked absolutely stunned and even covered their private parts
with their hands afterwards, which makes it irrefutable that the boys had been touched
without consent. As if that wasn’t disgusting enough, netizens
soon discovered that this wasn’t the first time that the SNL Korea staff had s*xually
harassed their guests. The same thing had happened to Infinite a
month prior to the B1A4 incident, with Lee Se Yong being the center of attention, again.
In the video that netizens found, while all the other female crew members had stopped
their inappropriate touching, Se Young could be seen reaching for the Infinite members’
crotch area before she walked away with a celebratory fist pump.
Severe internet backlash had prompted both SNL Korea and Lee Se Yong herself to make
a public apology. Se Yong was also subjected to police investigation,
but the charges against her were cleared as both the members of B1A4 and Infinite stated
that she did not physically touch them. Regardless of whether physical contact happened
or not, it was clear that the SNL Korea staff made both groups extremely uncomfortable with
a s*xual-based joke that went too far and that Lee See Yong completely deserves to be
pressed charge against.
4. Vixx's N
6 years ago, in the variety show Shin Dong Yup’s Bachelor Party, a discussion of ‘things
the cast members wish women wouldn’t do when they’re drinking in a group’ brought
N a chance to talk about his unsettling experience. He started the conversation by saying how
some women kept touching men here and there as though all men liked it if the woman initiated
skinship, then confessed that during a company dinner he felt extremely uncomfortable when
a female staff member kept rubbing his thighs. You’d think that N would be taken seriously
when he was brave enough to openly discuss harassment, but sadly, that wasn’t the case.
One of the cast members replied, ‘really? I like it when women touch me first’ then
proceeded to reenact the scene with another member sitting next to him.
What happened to N was also neither covered widely in news articles nor talked about among
Kpop fans, so we can only hope that the female staff in question had since been fired and
that N’s personal boundaries are more respected.
5. 2PM’s Taecyeon
Imagine scrolling through social media to see that people are talking suggestively about
you. Yep, that’s what happened to Taecyeon when he just wanted to keep up with his fans.
2 Twitter users were publicly talking about different idols in a highly s*xualized manner,
and Taecyeon was unfortunately caught up in the mess.
The fans made references to his genitalia and even talked about how he probably had
...‘an er*ction sickness’, letting their imaginations run wild.
Taecyeon was understandably furious as he replied to the 2 perverted users that he’d
take legal actions and make an example out of them.
The idol further posted the status: ”Patience, patience, I don’t have any more patience.
Don’t wish for any mercy from me. I won’t give it” on his account.
Long story short, if you don’t want to get sued by an idol, you’d better be on your
best behaviour.
6. ATEEN
ATEEN was a group of 10 trainees who were promoting in Japan prior to their scheduled
Korean debut, with 2 of their members having participated in Produce 101 season 2.
While the boys worked towards their dreams, none of them would’ve imagined the horror
that they would be subjected to by the president of their own label, DS&A Entertainment.
In 2019, 6 ATEEN members had filed a lawsuit at the Seoul Central Police District against
their female CEO and the wife of a chairman for s*xually *ssaulting them at a sushi restaurant
in Tokyo, Japan.
Translations of their testimonies were posted on various social media websites such as Twitter
and Instagram. The abuse left such a deep mental scar on the members that some even
had to seek psychiatric treatment.
ATEEN also posted a picture on Instagram with the caption ‘we hope that justice will be
implemented. Please help us’ and changed their bio to ‘we’ll be back’, which
prompted netizens to take actions by trending hashtags and bringing awareness to the issue.
The outcome of their lawsuit remains unknown even until now, but we hope that the perpetrators
are justly punished.
7. G-Dragon
G-Dragon must be one of the most unlucky male idols on this list as his personal space had
been inappropriately invaded not just once but at least, 3 times.
Firstly, when Big Bang came back to Korea after finishing their world tour in China,
a female fan was caught following G-Dragon. She nonchalantly touched G-Dragon from behind,
but the idol kept his ice-cold composure and kept on walking as if he didn’t even want
to acknowledge the crazyfan’s existence. Half a year after, in a Big Bang fanmeeting
in Hong Kong, G-Dragon thought that a female fan wanted to whisper something to him but
as he leaned down, she took the chance to kiss him on the cheek.
G-Dragon was clearly taken aback and had to take a full minute to process what happened.
He was polite to the girl and even said that he was happy, but I don’t think that was
a good move considering G-Dragon’s status as a celebrity, his other fans, and a clear
lack of permission. Last but not least, while G-Dragon was performing
at his solo concert in 2017, a supposedly drunk audience carrying the Big Bang lightstick
suddenly appeared on stage. She grabbed G-Dragon’s jacket, flung her
arm around his neck, then pulled him towards her before a security guard intervened and
brought her off the stage. Though the 3 girls from 3 incidents were all
heavily criticized by netizens for their behaviours, it seems few people considered this as s*xual
harassment.
So, which incident from today’s video stood out to you, and what’s your opinion on the
sexual harassment of male idols? Comment down below to share your thoughts with us.