8TURN’s leader Jaeyun is at the center of an unexpected online reaction after a message he sent on a fan communication app took an unexpected turn — all because of a single emoji.
While casually chatting with fans, Jaeyun spoke about eating well and feeling full. To express this, he used the male pregnant emoji — a commonly used symbol to jokingly say someone has eaten a lot. However, the emoji’s deeper association with online fan culture led to some surprising replies from fans, many referencing the term “mpreg.”
Seemingly confused by the comments, Jaeyun responded in English.
Jaeyun: It’s hard to eat ssam so just go for meat garlic sesame leaves and ssamjang.
Jaeyun: mpreg? what is mpreg?
The innocent question quickly stirred up reactions across social media.
can’t believe we got jaeyun talking about mpreg before that cb announcement pic.twitter.com/O2fVHj0Nn1
— raine 🍀 (@maengguz) June 22, 2025
WHO THE FUCK IS TALKING ABOUR MPREG ON PLUS CHAT😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/EKmMb2XPIt
— m ∞♡ (@lichuuli) June 22, 2025
never thought id see the day where an actual fkn IDOL even says the word mpreg to fans 😭 AND IT WASN'T NCT???
— ꒰ঌ★໒꒱ (@alwaysbewichu) June 22, 2025
jaeyun asking what mpreg is.. ?
🗿It's troublesome to eat ssam so just eat meat eat garlic eat sesame leavesand eat ssamjang
🗿 mpreg? whats mpreg pic.twitter.com/A3iNCeIk1z— 8turn on my phone (@8torn) June 22, 2025
For those unfamiliar, “mpreg” is short for “male pregnancy” — a fictional trope often found in fanfiction, particularly in gay romance or slash fiction, where male characters become pregnant. While not always inappropriate in nature, many interpretations of the trope do include sexual content, which is what surprised many fans.
how we go from food to mpreg pic.twitter.com/dCwLq9wskd
— 🍄 (@wzisthighs) June 23, 2025
its real😭 pic.twitter.com/KssYOstwzl
— 8turn on my phone (@8torn) June 22, 2025
The idol’s question, though likely made in genuine curiosity, left many stunned, as topics like this are rarely mentioned so openly by K-Pop idols. Fans speculated that Jaeyun may have gotten his answer shortly after, as he didn’t bring it up again following his question.
