“More critical than a drug case”… A girl group disappeared with the’bullying controversy’

The bullying rumor raised by former member of girl group’April’ Lee Hyun-joo is unfolding in a fierce battle.
The beginning was the exposure of Lee Hyun-joo’s younger brother A, on the 28th of last month. Mr. A claimed, “My sister suffered from panic disorder and breathing difficulties due to bullying and bullying in the group, and she wrote that’I want to quit acting’ because of the company’s coercion.” DSP media, the agency’s agency, refuted it through three positions afterwards, and Mr. A is also preparing for a court battle as Mr. A is further exposed.

Considering that Lee Hyun-joo is still an actor under DSP, this is an unusual myth. In addition, DSP-born Ajax Yoon-young refuted Lee Hyun-joo’s argument, saying, “Because bullying. Harassment? Let’s stop getting hurt by simply riding the water.”
The girl group’s’bullying controversy’ is an unfamiliar issue. Even top-ranked girl groups suffered from bullying controversy or conflict between members, and some collapsed without being able to overcome it.

① 2012 tiara
The most famous and first incident that made the public aware of the bullying issue was the 2012 Tiara Hwa-yeong bullying controversy. In July 2012, five tiara members were raised when they wrote a criticism tweet targeting another member, Hwa-young. Since then, suspicions of bullying Hwa-yeong in previous videos and performances have spread. At that time, T-ara was at a time when’Lovey-Dovey’ rose to No. 1 in the 13th music broadcast and enjoyed the best grades since her debut, but this incident struck her image. Afterwards, the agency announced that it would cancel the contract with Hwa-yeong and exclude it from T-ara three days after the incident, but this fixed the perception that Hwa-yeong was the victim. Since then, T-ara has not recovered its popularity again.

②2014 Girls’ Generation
Girls’ Generation, who opened the era of multi-member girl groups, also suffered from discord among members. Girls’ Generation was shocked when Jessica was “deported” in 2014. On September 30, 2014, Jessica, through her Weibo account, said, “I received a notification to leave Girls’ Generation.” “We have been asking to either leave or do the alternative,” he said.

After that, according to Jessica and SM, Jessica tried to run her own fashion business while simultaneously working as a team, and members with disagreements about it eventually decided to’withdraw’ from Jessica. The personality was different from the previous case of T-ara, but it was a big wave in that Girls’ Generation was the top girl group, and the member withdrawal was decided through a meeting of 8 out of 9 members. After Jessica left the team, Girls’ Generation continued their activities until last year, including recording albums, and Jessica continued her activities as a singer and business, but last year published a novel’Shine’ about the conflict and the debut of a girl group of Koreans overseas. Once again attracted attention.

③2020 AOA
The AOA bullying controversy that took place last year is the most extreme case.
Kwon Min-ah, a former member of AOA, posted a post saying “I will go to happiness” on SNS in August last year, claiming that he was harassed by other members during AOA activities. In the meantime, he revealed that he had made some extreme choices and criticized the AOA and the agency. As public opinion increased and civil complaints were received through the National Newspaper, a police investigation continued, but the internal investigation was ended after 10 days. The Seoul Gangnam Police Station said, “The victim, Kwon Min-ah, did not want the investigation, so the internal affairs were virtually closed.”
But the wavelength was big. AOA’s leader Jimin, who was pointed out by Minah Kwon as leading the harassment, withdrew from the team, and AOA stopped working as a team. In the music industry, AOA’s resumption of activities is not expected to be easy.

Regarding the big repercussions of the bullying controversy of idol groups, Kim Jung-hyun, a popular culture critic, said, “The fandom of idol groups is mostly in their teens to 20s, and for them, school violence and bullying are a more sensitive area than anything else. “Rather, it leads to more fatal results than deviant behaviors such as drunk driving or drugs,” he said.

Meanwhile, broadcasting and advertising are also responding quickly to the April controversy. Dongseo Foods, Samjin Pharm, JSTina, and Muhak stopped all advertisements featuring April member Lee Na-eun. In addition, SBS’Plaza of Taste’, which is scheduled to be broadcast on the 4th, also revealed that “I will edit the amount of Lee Na Eun as much as possible.” The same broadcaster’s drama’Exemplary Taxi’ is also planning to exclude Na-eun, the main character, from filming the promotional video.

Regarding girl groups suffering from bullying controversy, Idol columnist Park Hee-ah said, “It is impossible to generalize this problem as a problem for girl groups. There is also a side where the management company manages it more thoroughly before it becomes louder.”
An agency official said, “We are also paying attention to the company, but it is not easy to grasp or intervene each and every emotional problem between the members.” “There will be a learning effect that makes you feel for yourself,” he said.

Reporter Yoo Seong-woon [email protected]