Sm Entertainment has taken a firm position against what she calls “unfounded voices” and bullying accusations that surround her newly debut female group, Hearts2hearts.
Hearts2hearts, a group of eight members girls composed of Jiwoo, Carmen, Yuha, Stella, Jun, A-Na, Ian and Ye-on, made their highly anticipated debut on February 24 with their first single album, The pursuit. However, the excitement that surrounds their launch was quickly dampened by serious accusations against one of the members, Ian.
Anonymous online posts said Ian had a history of school violence and inappropriate behavior during his middle school years. The accusations included episodes of physical alterations, such as the launch of a rock against a colleague and the breakdown of a fish tank. In addition, Ian and his friends have been accused of working in sexual harassment towards teachers.
These accusations acquired traction when the people who claimed to be former classmates from Ian made forward to support the accusations, providing pre-debut photos as proof.
In addition, the Netizen also detonated Ian for a pre-debut post on social media in which he used the skilled language. The post showed Ian posing with a friend, accompanied by a caption that read “two disabled” in Korean.
It is important to note that “Jangae-in” is used in Korea to refer to disabled people. Many students use it as a joke, but still has skilled connotations. However, some Netizen later claimed that it was her friend who descended the caption and not Ian, even if this is not also confirmed.
In response to the growing disputes, Sm Entertainment has released a declaration declaring that it has confirmed that the places containing false information, harmful slander and defamation of the character have been published and distributed “on Hearts2hearts. The company stressed that it has started a legal procedure to face these problems.
The entertainment giant clarified that it would not tolerate the dissemination of un verified information and would have taken legal actions “without clemency or regulation”. Sm Entertainment has also noticed that it will continue to do its best to “protect our artists”.
