Arrested, Kicked-Out Boy Group Member Re-Debuts, Sparking Backlash

He is now part of a new boy group.

Last year, a male idol was arrested and subsequently removed from his boy group. Now, he is quietly re-debuting in a brand new group.

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Yeah Taiga | @___zavage___/X

9bic is a boy group under WAIWAI inc, and made their debut in 2019. Several original members of the group have left the group and been replaced with new members. One of those members was Taiga Sasaki, who joined in June 2024.

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9bic | WAIWAI inc

In November 2025, at age 19, Taiga was arrested for trespassing into the women-only section of a hotel public bath without any legitimate reason. He reportedly stayed there for about 10 minutes before being discovered. He admitted to the charge, and WAIWAI Inc. immediately terminated his contract, removing him from 9bic on November 5, 2025.

Now, four months later, Taiga has resurfaced as a member of Zavage, a six-member group that is scheduled to hold their debut live performance on May 19 at Zepp Shinjuku in Tokyo. Taiga is now going under the stage name Yeah Taiga.

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Zavage | @___zavage___/X

On March 24, he posted a self-introduction on X, under his new account, @taiga_Zavage, with a promotional photo that exudes the same “prince idol” vibes he was known for in his previous group.

Now, Taiga is facing backlash from Japanese netizens, including the popular idol-exposing account DEATHDOL NOTE, who quickly recognized Taiga and drew attention to his previous scandal. DEATHDOL NOTE’s tweet alone, which includes a photo of Taiga and a screenshot of a news article about Taiga, has racked up over 15,000 likes.

According to Japanese media, some netizens reportedly pointed out that Taiga has yet to apologize for his scandal.

Source: Tokyo Hive and Yahoo Japan
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