Remember the days of sneaking out to meet your crush? Or just going on simple dates as teenagers? Or making excuses for study circles to meet your bf/gf? Young love is full of secret meetings and riding high on the adrenaline.
That is our coming-of-age, a natural process of understanding what it means to be in a relationship. That’s how we learn, grow, and find ourselves.
The point is that being in a relationship or simply dating in late teens is as normal as possible. Then why are K-pop idols criticized for doing what all teenagers do? This hypocrisy of setting different standards for a Korean celebrity is an outdated concept and needs to be stopped.
Fans are too engrossed in the parasocial relationship to the point that they want to debar an idol just because they had a past or are currently dating someone. Recently, Joshua from Seventeen was embroiled in speculations, and even then, some netizens wanted him to explain himself.
When Chen from EXO announced that he was in a relationship and soon expecting to be a father, a group of fans rallied in front of SM headquarters, demanding his termination from the group.
A similar incident is looping back again on September 1 KST, as more “protest trucks” were seen outside the SM Entertainment building in Seongsu-dong. Each vehicle displayed one of the following messages–
1. “An Obstacle for Stanning RIIZE, the Nuisance Member Hong Seung Han, Take Responsibility and Leave.”
2. “Do Not Use the Other Members to Stir Up Media Play about Hong Seung Han.”
3. “What is SM 3.0? The Era of Embracing Nuisance Members!”
4. “Branch 5, Stop Trying to Pick A Fight With Fans and Get Your Head On Straight.”
5. “Hong Seung Han Get Out, Hong Seung Han Get Out, Hong Seung Han Get Out.”
6. “Hong Seung Han Out.”
Why is all this aggression for? It seems like the reaction doesn’t match the equal and opposite action!
A rookie SM group, RIIZE, about to debut in a few days, met with its first controversy when a member Seunghan’s past intimate photos were released with his girlfriend in a hotel room. Some K-Netz are upset with him and demand his removal from the band before their debut.
RIIZE Seunghan’s Hotel Photo Controversy Explained
Seunghan was a trainee in SM Entertainment, a company that has produced some of the most legendary K-Pop acts in history, including Girls Generation, Super Junior, EXO, Shinee, Red Velvet, Aespa, NCT, and more. Needless to say, it is a pretty huge deal to get your foot into the SM door.
Recently, SM announced the launch of the new boy group RIIZE, and Seunghan made the lineup after a rigorous training period. The group has even managed to amass 1.6 million Instagram followers during pre-debut.
But just days before their official debut, a few photos were circulating online, showing Seunghan and his girlfriend kissing in a hotel room.
On the other hand, a user made unproven allegations against Seunghan that he has apparently–
- Violent tendencies toward his girlfriend.
- Stealing from fellow trainees.
- His gf had an abortion; he didn’t care.
- Made his girlfriend pay for the travel fee to see her.
- Cheated.
- Degraded women and is chauvinistic.
- Underage.
[These are simply speculations or the figment of the imagination of a bored troll. None of these are proven, so we are not emphasizing it.]
This sparked an online ruckus as some K-Netizens bombarded their social handles with comments on the idol’s poor conduct and “betraying” fans by having a girlfriend. This unreasonable reason did not resonate with other K-Netz and International fans, who quickly came to his defense.
“Senior idols apologising for getting married and rookie now idols apologising for having relationships prior to their debut. When are knetz seriously gonna let these people have a life.”
“He shouldn’t have had apologized for having a private life in the first place. We shouldn’t care if he is dating anyone.
People are acting like idols killed someone whenever they have dating rumors. Jesus Christ. Are we living in the 1800’s?
I’m at least relieved that he’s going to move forward from this.”
“Certain fans need to get over themselves and touch some grass, and then seek professional help.
Ooooh, the crime of possibly having dated someone in the past or is currently dating, how atrocious and someone bring out the lashes for him!
Good for SM for going straight with legal shit.”
“He shouldn’t apologize for being human. Those who leaked the photos should be the one to apologize for intruding someone else’s personal life. One day, I swear, karma will fall on those people.”
“SM announced taking legal action against whoever leaked the photos and I’m really hoping that they get caught, rot in hell, and set an example because this is absurd. Something fundamental and systematic has to change – I know, but I’m also feeling very vindictive atm.”
“The people he’s apologizing to might even be dating someone rn. I had an ex-exo-l moot who kept swearing at Chen so much, just for me to discover she was engaged to a long term boyfriend.
Seunghan deserves an apology for the invasion of his privacy. Kpop idols date, they have fun and they live. They don’t exist as dolls for you to fantasize about, despite how they’re marketed. They’re still human beings, who would crave normal human relationships.
If anyone ever feels angry about their fave, who is a stranger dating and falling in love with someone else, that person has a problem. Their harmless personal lives should not affect you. They are working. They deserve to spend their free time with those who they love, which will most likely never be you, their fan.”
“Why has nothing changed after all these years? I’ve been a fan for 8 years now and the same exact stuff keeps happening. Why do these random online people believe they have a claim on a person’s private life? These photos were released without consent from either parties yet it is somehow their fault for even having taken them? Taking couple pictures is something you do when you’re happy in a relationship but of course these delusional people wouldn’t know about that because they believe the height of healthy relationship dynamics is a random celebrity who doesn’t know they exist and them, a random fan, who doesn’t know aynthing about how their hypothetical partner is like in real life behind the idol mask.”
Some people argued that the girl in the picture is a minor, which makes these pictures problematic. But more rational comments counter-argued that Seunghan was a minor then, too.
Due to rising exposure to this “issue,” Seunghan had to post an official statement addressing the matter and apologizing–
Meanwhile, SM Entertainment announced that Seunghan would be absent from RIIZE activities, specifically the NPOP schedule, citing his health concerns. But some fans believe that SM is playing it safe by keeping him away for a few days until the controversy dies down.
Loyal fans are expecting SM to take legal action against haters and those who are demanding the band member’s removal. The agency has previously taken action for malicious threats against Aespa’s Winter.
What is your take on this case? Do you think these are fair criticisms against the idol? Should idols even be criticized for being in relationships or dating?
Let us know in the comments section below.
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