K-pop boy band Riize as a septet during the a photoshoot for their debut single, Get A Guitar. Seunghan (foreground, left) recently left the group due to fan backlash. Photo: Riize/Facebook
On Oct 11, more than 1,000 funeral wreaths – normally meant to mourn the dead – were sent to the Seoul headquarters of K-pop agency SM Entertainment.
They were meant to protest the return of member Seunghan to the boy band Riize after a nearly year-long suspension just two months into his September 2023 debut.
The wreaths were filled with messages addressed to the very-much-alive 21-year-old, demanding that he permanently leave the group.
It worked. Just two days after announcing Seunghan’s return, SM Entertainment reneged on the decision and the singer confirmed that he would depart, turning the septet into a sextet.
Seeing such vitriol, one would imagine that Seunghan had done something utterly reprehensible, like killing a puppy.
Instead, it was because photos of him kissing a woman in bed – both appeared fully clothed – prior to his debut and a video of him allegedly engaging in underage smoking were leaked in August and November 2023 respectively, clearly against his consent.
As someone who has to monitor English and Chinese social media frequently for work, the reactions to Seunghan’s exit caused a bit of whiplash for me.
While there were opinions that ran the gamut, many fans were cheering on platforms such as Xiaohongshu and Weibo, with messages like “we won”, “serves him right” and “idols aren’t supposed to date”.
On sites like X and TikTok, where Anglophone users dwell, K-pop fans were devastated and horrified. Many were in disbelief at how Seunghan was publicly bullied out of Riize for doing what many young people do – date, smoke, live a life.
The Seunghan controversy is hardly the only incident that has split the K-pop community.
In October, BTS’ Suga also received funeral wreaths sent to the supergroup’s agency Hybe because he was drink-driving on an e-scooter. His behaviour was illegal and unbefitting, but did it warrant such an extreme response?
In the case of South Korea-based American rapper-singer Jessi, her contract was terminated by her agency after she received severe backlash for not intervening when a male teenage fan was assaulted in front of her by her male acquaintance in October.
Even in these more morally grey cases, there have been nuanced reactions from international fans, who are at least open to understanding why a woman might choose to walk away when she sees a man engaging in physical violence.
Jessi's contract was terminated by her agency after she received severe backlash for not intervening when a male teenage fan was assaulted in front of her by her male acquaintance. Photo: Jessi/Instagram
Some Chinese fans have described the Anglophone K-pop community’s displeasure at Seunghan’s exit “white people lording their cultural superiority over Asians”, but it would be overly simplistic to frame this as an “East versus West” debate.
It is true, however, that modern society is consumerist by nature. So consumption, or the lack thereof, is the most straightforward way for people to express their values. Fans want to support idols and companies that align with their values.
As K-pop grows increasingly popular globally, with deliberate efforts made to market it to international audiences, the industry will bump up against value systems vastly different from its more conservative instincts.
Broadly speaking, idols in East Asia, especially the young ones, have historically been marketed as romantic fantasies for fans. Fans in these markets have come to expect their idols to maintain the image of themselves as single and available in exchange for their loyalty and support.
In other words, do not date, and if you do, do not get caught.
In contrast, teen pop stars from past to present in the English-language music scene are simply not burdened with the same expectations.
American singer Justin Timberlake was in a relationship with American pop star Britney Spears during his NSync days. English singer Harry Styles was openly dating English presenter Caroline Flack and American pop star Taylor Swift at the height of One Direction’s fame.
Any suggestion that these idols adhere to a dating ban would be seen by the stars themselves, their music labels and fans as a gross violation of their personal freedoms.
Riize are a particularly thorny act in this aspect. In a rare move for K-pop, the band made their debut in partnership with American label RCA Records, signifying their global ambitions from the get-go.
These conflicting attitudes are hurting the companies and, ultimately, the idols. There have been calls in the international K-pop community to boycott SM Entertainment and their artistes to protest the removal of Seunghan from Riize.
Some international K-pop retailers, including Krmerch in Singapore, have temporarily halted the import of Riize releases to show their displeasure at how Seunghan was treated.
It is a difficult situation to navigate, and I empathise with company employees tasked to come up with solutions, but the least they could do is to have a water-tight crisis communications roll-out.
But Seunghan’s departure was handled horribly by SM Entertainment. A 30-year-old company as established and experienced as it is should know full well that there was no decision it could have made that would have satisfied all fans.
What it should have done was to stick by its call through the brickbats. Instead, it flip-flopped – the worst possible course of action.
If the initial decision was that Seunghan would leave the group and pursue solo activities, it probably would have been seen as a sad but somewhat inevitable outcome, given his already-year-long suspension. His supporters might even see the exit as a chance for him to start anew, and I doubt anyone would be sending funeral wreaths.
But SM Entertainment kicked him out only after announcing it would let him back in. It raised the hopes of Seunghan supporters – and indeed those of K-pop fans everywhere who found it ridiculous that an idol would suffer such harsh consequences for some harmless pictures – and then brutally dashed those hopes with the retraction.
Funeral wreaths were sent to the headquarters of SM Entertainment, the management agency of Riize, to protest the return of member Seunghan. Photo: Screenshot from KNN News/YouTube
It is alarming that such a powerful entity would cave with such immediacy to the demands of “fans”, who have such malice in their hearts as to send death wishes to an artiste, when the industry has lost so many bright, young stars to suicide.
And are such toxic “fans”, who really seem to be more trouble for agencies than their continued support is worth, a natural consequence of the idol industry? Or is it at least fuelled by the companies’ incompetence?
Because if you don’t want funeral wreaths sent to your headquarters, then don’t set a precedent showing that such action works. – Jan Lee/The Straits Times/Asia News Network
