If A Catchy Headline is What Makes You Stop Bullying, You Need to Rethink Your Priorities
Recently, the South Korean media was lit afire with bullying accusations against many of its celebrities. Within two to three weeks, Korean pop idols like Mingyu from the famous boy band “Seventeen”, Kihyun from “MonstaX”, Hyunjin from “Stray Kids'' and members from the girl group band “April” have been accused of having bullied their classmates in school and group members. Actors Jisoo and Park Hye Soo have also been accused of the same.
A lot of accusations from different victims surfaced in a very small period of time. Although it is not confirmed if said accusations are true, it has grown to have a social impact in the K-pop community as these get shared on Korean social media platforms like wildfire.
A highly plausible reason as to why this sudden outpouring of allegations is because of a decision that was taken by Naver — the most widely used portal site in South Korea. On 11 February 2021, it was announced by Naver that the trending searches chart will be permanently removed from their search engine starting on 25th February. Since 2005, Nave, being the largest portal site in South Korea with 30 million users a day, has maintained its “rising search terms” chart to show trending topics in real time. As important topics often trend on Naver, its demise has some concerned whether major matters will garner the same widespread reach online from now on.
In South Korea, it is an arduous job for celebrities to remedy scandals that scars their reputation, once it’s public knowledge. The certitude of the information doesn’t matter since they are discredited either way. It is hard for any artist in the Korean entertainment industry to regain their footing after taking a hit. For K-pop stars, it becomes more complicated, as many are associated promoting positivity through their stage performances and artistic creativity, and anything that casts doubt on this uplifting attitude comes at a cost.
[content warning: bullying, sexual harassment]
A major part of the reason as to why this issue has caught the attention of so many people is because of the absolute inhumane deeds the celebrities have been accused of participating in. Mingyu allegedly has been associated with delinquent bullies who sometimes would sometimes take part in the bullying as well. Sunwoo (a member of the k-pop boy band “The Boyz”) was accused of being abusive with his middle school girlfriend, drinking alcohol, smoking, and making dirty and/or misogynistic jokes. The actor Jisoo was suspected of having been a womaniser who had even filmed himself having intercourse with a middle school student in a bathroom. He allegedly urinated in the class trash can, took out his frustration on his classmates by hitting or slapping them and a lot more. The famous actress, Park Hye Soo was accused of rallying up kids to bully the victim time and again. She allegedly hit the victim until she got physically tired and then asked a male friend to continue hitting the victim until they bled.
Assuming the accusations are true, it is sad to see that such talented people who are loved by their fans, seem to have done such horrendous acts. Even if they are better people now, at some point in their lives, they were inclined to do what they did and that might speak more about who they are as human beings. Regardless of them being celebrated icons, these accusations need to be taken seriously and investigated thoroughly. It is uncertain if these charges are true or some people just wanted to add fuel to the fire without any evidence, just to ruin their hard earned fame. Alternatively, if the accusations are investigated to be true, we shall realise that celebrities are, in the end, performative beings and who they really are will always remain unknown to common people unless voices are raised against them. This hits a lot closer to home when one is a fan of them because the industry exploits the loyalty of fans as marketing strategy.
For a victim, it takes a lot of courage to accuse someone who is famous and in power. The victims expect justice, but more than that, they want to spread awareness about bullying and violence in school. At the end of the day, it is not majorly about the accused celebrities. It is about bullying that takes place especially in school which goes unnoticed because it isn’t taken seriously. Students find themselves helpless because no one wants to get involved. Researchers have found that suicide is the most common cause of death among young Koreans between the age of 15 to 24, a phenomenon that is connected to the fiercely competitive academic environment and bullying behaviours at school. In recent years, it has become so bad that parents have resorted to hiring muscular, tattooed men to pose as fake “uncles” to protect their children from schoolyard bullies.
Sitting thousands of miles away, we can only know so much about the truth behind all these allegations. The takeaway from this should be that we don’t shy away from taking action against the bullying that is happening around us and help stop it because bullying exits and steps must be taken so it doesn’t take place in any corner of the world.
(cover image courtesy: jazminemedia.com)
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