A recent interview with a Korean reporter is infuriating fans and for a very good reason.
On June 30, an SBS reporter dropped a bombshell, the reporter appeared on a morning radio show in South Korea and claimed one iKON member said B.I was forced out by Yang Hyun Suk and wait until you hear why.
She said,
“As far as I heard B.I didn’t leave himself (because he wanted to), but left because of Yang Hyun Suk who had received criticism for the way he handled Seungri’s situation.
So he told B.I to leave. This is what I have heard from an iKON member.”
The conversation:
이거 양현석이 한빈이한테 나가라고 했다는 그 부분입니다.
멤버한테 직.접 들었다네요
아직 한빈이가 버렸다고 믿는 사람이 많은데 이 기자분 이야기 들어보세요 ㄹㅇ이 기자분 정주ㄴ0 카톡방이랑 스ㅇri
카톡 밝힌 분이라네요 pic.twitter.com/3u6clK58vs— 방파제⚓팥:쥭 [7] (@jinhwanhada_0) June 30, 2019
The radio host was in agreement with her statement adding why else would he have left.
Her words are being taken seriously by many iKON fans because she is the same reporter who exposed Seungri and Jung Joon Young’s kakaotalk messages back in March of 2019. She has a good reputation among her peers and many netizens applaud her actions.
The particular clip of that show went viral and as you’d assume it infuriated fans even more. Fans were already displeased with the way the agency handled B.I’s situation. When comparing allegations to proven sentences, other BIGBANG members were not kicked out after it was proven they smoked marijuana. B.I’s case remains open and it hasn’t been proven yet (by police) that he indeed smoked marijuana.
B.I departure also didn’t make sense to many fans because of the rigorous training he had undergone to debut as part of iKON, he spent almost half his life in YG Entertainment and was kicked out as soon as the news came out.
In response to the interview, iKON fans trended #StopLyingYGE. They’re demanding the agency properly address the situation and bring back iKON’s leader.
Here are some of the fans’ tweets:
yg: hanbin voluntarily exits yge and leave iKON as their leader
also yg: hanbin ask us not to be credited in worthless
iKONICS: #StopLyingYGE pic.twitter.com/qoNkhUuFic
— #STANDWITHHANBIN (@chanramelwoo) June 30, 2019
we really exposed them to the rest of the world. ikonics we celebrating #StopLyingYGE pic.twitter.com/udVq1YTT4t
— #R9 | the Hanbin stan (@ikonavy) June 30, 2019
Our KONfire is burning wilder than ever. Because we’ve been hurt so many times by all the lies of @ygent_official #StopLyingYGE
YGE, you never deserve iKON and iKONICS. We don’t deserve you either. @YG_iKONICpic.twitter.com/uFJnjHpQIk
— Team iKON (@ikonic_icay) June 30, 2019
DONT EVER FORGET HOW YGE TREATED iKON ‼️‼️‼️#StopLyingYGE pic.twitter.com/Sl2RhOoqfw
— taKo belle (@iKONIClikkiee) June 30, 2019
RETWEET THIS VIDEO AND OR QUOTE TWEET IT WITH THE HASHTAG #StopLyingYGE Other fandoms and the world need to know exactly what’s going on so they can help. pic.twitter.com/1AXf4lYHNt
— 777 (@xmixedfeelingsx) June 30, 2019
What do you think of this?
My Personal Thoughts
I am not going to lie; I don’t want Hanbin to go back. I’d rather the whole group move to a new agency like Highlight did, but I also know that’s not easy to do.
Regardless of your position on hanbin, and regardless of whether he did drugs or not, I still believe he was treated badly and this is coming from someone who’s not even a fan of iKON.
Other BIGBANG members stayed and promoted in their group even after it was proven that they indeed smoked marijuana. The law is the law and if Hanbin did wrong he should pay for it like everybody else. He is not above the law and he should have thought this through. Marijuana ended careers in South Korea.
Its not about what we international fans think but about what the Korean GP thinks and they don’t like drugs, it’s simple! Might be unfair to you but that’s how they think.
It’s just sad that such a talented human being was discarded the moment the news came out. I can’t help but make some serious accusatory assumptions about YG because of the way he handled the entire situation but I’ll keep those thoughts to myself, for now.
I highly doubt YG will respond to this, they got bigger issues on their hands.
Ofcourse he was told to leave, He loves Writing music! He loves music! #StopLyingYGE
He worked so hard just to debut. He trained his members. Wrote songs for iKON, Blackpink, Eun jiwon, Epic high. Do you remember that time when he ran away from YGE because they were preparing to debut and he has to do everything for his team but YG told him to join “show me the money S3” when in fact he doesn’t even have time to sleep? He said he wanted to run away to Busan but he didn’t have money. My point is, he worked hard. Don’t take away his dream.
# stoplyingYGE