PENTAGON’s Hongseok Alludes To The Group Not Being Paid By Cube Entertainment — Netizens Defend The Idol From Criticism

PENTAGON‘s Hongseok has recently gained attention for his comments, seemingly calling out CUBE Entertainment on his financial situation.

PENTAGON’s Hongseok | @_hongseokie/Instagram

For many fans, PENTAGON has always been one of the most underrated groups, and while they have achieved success globally in many countries, many believe they could have soared to even bigger heights if CUBE had treated them well.

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PENTAGON’s Hongseok recently returned to group promotions after his military enlistment, which happened early due to medical reasons. Since then, the idol has returned to updating fans and has even performed shows in Japan.

| @_hongseokie/Instagram | @_hongseokie/Instagram

On June 6, Hongseok went online and sent messages to fans to update them on what he had been doing. While much of the activity was things like commenting on the members’ Instagram posts and sharing his day, certain messages caught the attention of fans.

In the posts, Hongseok alluded to the fact that he and the members were not earning from the group activities. In particular, he even pointed out that he’d earn more money working a part-time job, adding that they were “paid in experience.”

| theqoo

• First off, though, I don’t have the money. Ha.
• I want to make some.
• LOL? What makes you think we’ve been making any?
• I’m sure I’d make a lot more working a part-time job than I do now.
• I’m getting paid “in experience!”

Although the post on theqoo is now deleted, it had almost 50,000 views and hundreds of comments within an hour of it being posted.

The engagement on the post before it was deleted | theqoo

The comments were full of extremely passionate comments from fans.

While international netizens fully supported Hongseok and called out CUBE, some Korean netizens weren’t as happy with his comments. Many fans came to the defense of Hongseok, sharing that the OP had taken the messages out of context to make the idol look bad.

• But aren’t they with CUBE Entertainment?
• I hope whoever left malicious comments has bad luck for three generations.
• I don’t even think fans would’ve shared his messages like this. I, too, was discharged from the military early because of financial hardships. And people usually show sympathy and care. Not criticism. Some of you’re just trying to tear him down because he talked about money.
• If you know about what has happened to PENTAGON over the years, you cannot possibly get mad at him for talking about this to his fans. What is wrong with CUBE? Why are they treating the members like this?
• Wait, what??? So they’re not even making the minimum wage of ₩9,620 KRW (about $7.39 USD)? CUBE isn’t paying them at all?
  Things must be REALLY tough for him to say stuff like that to the fans…
• This OP literally took the messages out of context and displayed them here for people to criticize Hongseok. Why would you do that? I’m not a PENTAGON fan, but I listen to their music and watch their performances. I wish they’d promote more often as a group.

Amidst the “hate” from non-fans, those who support PENTAGON shared their support for Hongseok and called out CUBE Entertainment for the treatment of one of their “top” groups.

| theqoo

• Fans who know the full context have understood his messages and are OK with them. So why are non-fans getting pressed over them now?
• CUBE only pays attention to (G)I-DLE and doesn’t care about the other groups… What even happened to LIGHTSUM or whatever? Why aren’t they getting a comeback?
• To the non-fans feeling the need to comment on this, why? LMAO. Why do you even care? It’s not like he was talking to any of you. So stop leaving your two cents here.
• But CUBE is a sizable company with decent business history… What could this mean for the idol groups who are signed with much smaller, lesser-known management companies?
• Maybe he is actually broke. I don’t even know what to say. These comments did not pass the vibe check.
• To me, it sounds like he’s sharing his genuine feelings with his fans because he’s actually really struggling. He’s allowed to do that, though. Isn’t he? It’s not like he doesn’t know that he’ll break the fans’ hearts. I think he blew up after keeping it to himself for too long. Don’t call him out for it. Don’t be so cruel to him.

 

While the income of idols is not something shared with fans, the recent issues with EXO‘s Chen, Baekhyun, and Xiumin have started a conversation about idols being paid what they deserve.