Netizens Defend aespa’s NingNing From Hate For “Holding” RIIZE Shotaro’s Arm

A recent clip of aespa member NingNing “holding” the arm of RIIZE‘s Shotaro is going viral across Korean community sites.

The clip was taken during KBS‘s 2023 Music Bank Global Festival, which aired on December 15.

Usually, one of the main attractions of year-end award shows or music festivals like these for fans is possible interactions among idols from different groups. But unfortunately, NingNing and Shotaro’s brief greeting has ticked off many.

On December 16, a netizen posted a short clip of the two’s interaction on a popular community site with the caption, “NingNing, who held RIIZE’s arm while leaving.” In the video, the aespa member can be seen briefly tapping Shotaro on his upper arm as the two groups cross each other while going the opposite way on the stage.

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Given that RIIZE and aespa are labelmates, and the two groups even performed a collab stage at the music festival, this gesture could very well be interpreted as a friendly greeting. But some chose to criticize NingNing for doing it so “openly,” without considering the unofficial “decorum” of K-Pop idols nowadays.

• “The jealousy of women is so scary…If you’re pretty, you can’t act like that.”
• “Thinking from the point of view of RIIZE fans, greeting him while touching does feel like crossing a line. Was it really necessary? NingNing, please use your head a bit.”
• “She did very much touch him, though.”
• “NingNing is obsessed with boys.”

However, many netizens came to defend NingNing as well.

• “Looks like SM Entertainment’s male idol fans are still delusional, thinking that female idols of the same label are after their oppas. I still remember what they did to Sulli and Taeyeon. History is really repeating itself.”
• “Isn’t she just greeting him?”
• “You can’t even tell if she’s actually “holding” his arm, and yet you’re all bashing NingNing. You guys are all insane, LOL. It’s really annoying.”
• “You can’t really see if she really held his arm, ㅋㅋㅋㅋ.  It just looks like she passed by and touched him slightly. Anyway, this was such a brief moment. Who cares?”
• “Seriously, why are these ahjummas like this? They were bashing on IVE Leeseo, and (G)I-DLE, and now it’s NingNing’s turn. They are the top fandom for being the biggest enemy of women.”