Here Are 5 Of The Worst Managers In K-Pop History
While there are plenty of great managers in K-Pop, there have also been some managers who committed some vile acts towards idols. Here’s a list of some of the worst managers seen in K-Pop.
1. Son Dambi’s former manager
During an episode of Knowing Brothers, Son Dambi shared a heartbreaking story about her former manager. She shared that when she was promoting her song “Crazy”, she had to get something installed in her house. However, Son Dambi was busy at the time, and none of her family members were available, so she ended up trusting her manager to let the technician into her house.
It was back when I was promoting ‘Crazy’. I was so busy but I had to get something installed [in my house]. My mom said she was too busy so I gave my door lock passcode to my manager. I gave it to him without a thought because we spend every day together.
— Son Dambi
Son Dambi was in for a shock when she learned that her manager had stolen everything she owned.
When I was busy with my schedule, he called a moving service and took every single thing in my house. He didn’t leave me anything. It was just an empty house.
What was even more unbelievable to me was that he took my under garments.
— Son Dambi
It turned out that her manager had gotten into debt due to some bad gambling habits. While her former manager ended up getting caught, all of her belongings were already sold.
2. BLACKPINK Lisa’s former manager
It was recently revealed that Lisa’s former manager had stolen ₩1 billion KRW ($817,661 USD) from Lisa, where he promised her that he would use the money to help her invest in real estate, but the manager ended up using it all on gambling. What made it worse was that this manager was with BLACKPINK since their debut in 2016 and was someone that Lisa trusted.
Lisa is a foreign member of BLACKPINK, and she has been alone in Korea since she was young, so she can be very vulnerable to these kinds of things, such as economic ideals.
It is very unfortunate that things like this are happening in the industry. It is a serious matter that can damage the image of [proper] Korean management.
— Official
While this manager is no longer with YG Entertainment, fans were still heartbroken by how the manager took advantage of Lisa’s trust.
3. BTS’s former manager
In 2015, a clip went viral after one of BTS’s managers raised their hand in a threatening manner towards Jungkook.
4. Weki Meki’s manager
This one is just a rumor, but many fans believe that one of Weki Meki’s managers is a sasaeng fan. Fans started to get suspicious of this manager due to how much unnecessary skinship he was doing with the members.
Fans also started getting suspicious of this manager when they found someone by the name of “SilverStar” sharing posts on a forum site called DC Inside about Doyeon.
I just died hearing Doyeon say ‘manager-nim’ I’ve heard it so many times but I want to hear it from Doyeon’s mouth so much…
—은스타 (SilverStar)
However, Fantagio never made a statement about this issue.
5. Min Woo Hyuk’s former manager
Min Woo Hyuk isn’t an idol, but the actor has shared in the past that his former manager was extremely abusive towards him. He shared that he had gotten hospitalized 7 times in a couple of years, had gotten hit in the head by a beer bottle, and was even once locked up for 9 months!
He knew that I could not go home with bruises and cuts on my face because my parents did not know about the assault.
He used that against me and beat me up consistently so I would always have bruises and cuts on my face.
— Min Woo Hyuk