4th Gen Idol’s Sudden Departure From Group Surfaces Viral Bullying And Harassment Allegations

Fans aren’t buying it.
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Koreaboo

Content Warning

This article includes descriptions of suicide or self harm that may disturb some readers.

On November 21, it announced that Keum Donghyun would no longer be a member of EPEX.

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Keum Donghyun | C9 Entertainment

The company announced in a statement that his contract had ended, and that the group would continue on as seven.

4th Generation Male Idol Suddenly Leaves The Group

This announcement came months after he was initially announced to be on hiatus back in May 2025. Many fans were surprised by the sudden new, and questioned why there had been no updates from the company since then.

However, amid the questions over his departure, allegations have resurfaced, accusing him of bullying and harassment.

A netizen’s post online detailed alleged harassment of another student dating back to when Donghyun was on Produce X 101, claiming that after accusing the other person of posting something incriminating, Donghyun was involved in bullying and harassment of two female students.

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“At the beginning of the semester, Keum Donghyun approached victim A, who didn’t have many friends at the time, and asked them to help promote Producer X together. Later, a photo of Keum Donghyun making a gesture resembling a “one-finger salute” spread online, and rumors claimed that A had leaked it. Because of the rumors, A was repeatedly called into the teachers’ office and made to delete past photos of Keum Donghyun that had been posted on the internet by classmates. As the situation escalated, A was unable to join the company they originally wanted to enter.

When rumors spread that Keum Donghyun retired because of A, A was subjected to even more verbal abuse. A few days later, A became the official target of school harassment and was publicly bullied in the schoolyard, including being physically assaulted by groups of students. A eventually withdrew from school. Years later, when A was attending an academy (private institute), people believed to be acquaintances of Keum Donghyun reportedly came after A and threatened to kill them.

After it was revealed that A would be appearing on an audition program, the death threats continued, and more negative rumors spread around A. (Based on Twitter exposés: the first photo is related to victim A, and the second is alleged evidence of phone calls threatening to kill both victim A and another female victim, B.)

Afterward, victim A reported the threats to the police. Since there were recordings, the report was acknowledged, but the threats did not meet the criteria of posing a “threat to life,” so the case was closed internally. Victim A was also confronted by people who came to the audition program venue, causing them to quit the show mid-audition.”

— Post

The original post made by victim A on X included alleged proof of calls and other harassment.

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You were smoking and doing Instagram live streams while you were still a minor, hanging out in groups with trainee kids and acting like a delinquent. Then you got me dropped from the CJ audition, bullied me and isolated me even inside the company, and then got cut off by idols from major agencies. After that, you even pretended to be connected to a major agency to approach me again and told me to kill myself, lol. When are you going to fix your attitude?

— Post

While it is insinuated he departed due to a viral tweet mentioning this a few days ago…

…many have come to his defense citing disbelief in the allegations.

  • Regarding the malicious rumors, please look at facts only. Everyone who has known him since school says the same thing—that he was kind and polite. If there really had been something like school violence, why was everything quiet during his debut and peak activities? The fact that they’re bringing it up now, when he can’t speak up and the company is staying silent, makes their motives pretty obvious, doesn’t it?

  • When it was revealed that he would appear on an audition program, they committed these horrible acts—so why didn’t they expose it back when Keum Donghyun was at the peak of his popularity during Produce X? I’m genuinely curious!! They held onto this resentment for years, yet didn’t say anything when he actually made it to debut rankings and got 300 million hearts on his solo V Live after the show?!

  • This is honestly impossible not to rebut. Does that accusation even make sense? If this happened in high school, that would’ve been when he was just debuting or right before debut, so why would they sit on it for so long? It’s strange to suddenly bring it up now. And why are people blindly believing something that wasn’t even written by the alleged victim themselves? Even the claim that he “went silent” is weird—the agency said his activities were halted.

If you or someone you know is struggling with depression or has had self-harming thoughts, do not hesitate to reach out to your local confidential support for people in distress or to call the Lifeline. The Lifeline provides free and confidential support for people in distress, prevention and crisis resources for you or your loved ones, and best practices for professionals. If you’re thinking about suicide, are worried about a friend or loved one, or would like emotional support, the Lifeline network is available 24/7. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline’s # is 988, OR you can call 1-800-273-8255. Crisis Text Line can be reached by texting HOME to 741741 (US), 686868 (Canada), or 85258 (UK).

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