4 Controversial Incidents In K-Pop That Ended Up Being Misunderstandings

In K-Pop, fans can get incredibly upset when something disrespectful happens to their favorite idols. However, sometimes these incidents end up being misunderstandings. Here are 4 controversial incidents in K-Pop that ended up being misunderstandings.

1. TWICE’s “controversial” SBS Inkigayo encore performance

In 2020, TWICE faced some backlash from netizens due to their encore performances. These netizens commented on how TWICE’s singing skills were “lackluster”. During an encore performance at SBS’s Inkigayo, some fans noticed a voice at the end, and some thought it was a staff member saying, “They’re really bad at singing“.

ONCEs are outraged because of a staff's voice can be heard in the last seconds of TWICE's Inkigayo encore video saying, "They're really bad at singing." Watch the video and listen to the deep voice. SBS deleted the video on YouTube

#InkigayoApologizeToTWICE pic.twitter.com/qO970Ehoxb

— S | STREAM I CAN'T STOP ME (@tzuyushii) June 14, 2020

Fans were incredibly upset by this and demanded an apology from SBS. Not long after, SBS released an official statement and shut down the controversy. It turns out that the voice heard at the end of the encore performance was actually from a commercial and that the words said were actually, “Completing my elegant image”.

The audio is actually not from a staff member. It’s part of a shopping application commercial script. The line reads, “Completing my elegant image”. That particular commercial started airing as soon as TWICE stepped down from the stage. The audio also played in the studio through the PA. The timing happened to capture the commercial’s script being read without any background music.

— SBS KPOP Team Manager

2. A fan’s comments about SEVENTEEN’s Hoshi

During a video call, Hoshi was seen curling up his hands like tiger claws, which he does quite often.

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However, Hoshi’s expression suddenly changed a few seconds later to a rather sad one. Fans speculated that the fan in the video call had said something that hurt Hoshi, such as saying his impersonation wasn’t cute.

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After receiving some backlash, the fan from the video call released a statement. It turns out that this fan was a Hoshi fansite and that in the video call, the two were just playing jokes on each other, which is why she joked that Hoshi’s tiger impersonation wasn’t cute.

3. MOMOLAND’s Nancy being “rude” to BLACKPINK

During an episode of Music Core, BLACKPINK was announced as the winners, and when they were giving their acceptance speech, some fans thought that MOMOLAND’s Nancy was being “rude” to them. The reason fans believed this was because Nancy was seen “glaring” at the BLACKPINK members.

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However, Nancy was also seen smiling and clapping before and after BLACKPINK’s speech.

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4. HyunA being too “clingy” to Dawn

Triple H was a group comprised of members HyunA, Dawn, and PENTAGON‘s Hui. When the group was active, some netizens thought that HyunA was being too clingy with the members, especially Dawn.

“I don’t think the boys are comfortable with this. I don’t see that. I see that they feel pressured to be okay with putting up with her.

“What, is she lonely these days? She’s like a kitten, all up in the boys’ faces and stuff. This doesn’t look good at all. It makes her look desperate.”

— Netizens

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However, it was later revealed that HyunA and Dawn had been dating for years and that he wasn’t uncomfortable with the skinship at all.