ATEEZ Fans Are Continuing To Demand An Apology From “Street Man Fighter”‘s Vata After Plagiarism Accusations
ATEEZ and their fandom have had a tumultuous week since Street Man Fighter contestant Vata included a move identical to the iconic choreography for “Say My Name” during one of the show’s challenges.
anyways to those that didn’t know—the driving move in THAT smf new things challenge wasn’t made by vata, it was created FOR ATEEZ by the choreographer ANZE SKRUBE and his team to use in their TT Say My Name released in 2019 💙pic.twitter.com/tbeLBZjie2
— ecks misses jongho ˙ᵔ˙ (@lattejjong) October 9, 2022
Since the issue arose, fans have accused the dancer of plagiarism, and even Wooyoung himself seemed to make his stance on the issue known by using the “biting” gesture during multiple instances to call Vata out for copying the move created by their own choreographers.
that move he did at the beginning, dancers use it to indicate its copied/stolen. 5000 used it in smf during one of the battles. wooyoung doing this move and then doing the driving dance. they know 😭 pic.twitter.com/GX1uFaL5qO
— dee (@azfxon) October 9, 2022
One of the choreographers, Anze Skrube, has also since shared multiple stories on his Instagram in support of ATEEZ and showing his stance on the plagiarism accusations, and even made a personal statement about it.
anze himself saying there is a difference in just copying a move or copying a whole sequence and thats what happened here, a whole sequence was copied. again also said josh smith specifically created this sequence at the end of 2018 for ateez to use in 2019 for say my name! pic.twitter.com/FLBG1rfrOi
— dee (@azfxon) October 11, 2022
What makes fans even more upset is this is far from the first time that ATEEZ has been copied by other performers. Earlier this year, for example, their song “Wave” was sampled without permission by (G)I-DLE‘s Soyeon for My Teenage Girl‘s finale song; thankfully in this instance, she and Cube Entertainment did apologize for the plagiarism, but it’s still upsetting regardless.
I love Soyeon and the girls (my teenage girls) , they are soo talented which I cannot disagree that but…. this sounds sooo same.. mybe intentionally or unintentionally. I need some explanation plis. SUN x WAVE #ATEEZDESERVESBETTER #ATEEZ #MyTeenageGirl #SUN #WAVE pic.twitter.com/HRu9fXrttk
— 보라님 (@Atinyyyy5) February 28, 2022
Along with this, Mnet has been accused multiple times of mistreating ATEEZ during Kingdom: Legendary War and the 2021 MAMAs. Considering that Mnet hosts Street Man Fighter, ATEEZ fans think that the company may be trying to cover up the issue and move on without a proper response.
also i dont think we should let this situation go away because thats exactly what they want. if ateez is so vocal about it i am ready to be as well. cant let stuff like this slide when its a big issue in the dancing community people are afraid to speak up about
— dee (@azfxon) October 12, 2022
the core purpose of street man fighter is to showcase the talent and originality of each dancer. if mnet chooses not to address the plagiarism issue at hand because they want to preserve popularity, the whole show is a joke.
speak up @MnetKR and Vata.#RESPECTATEEZ
— ⛈ (@sansikcheo) October 13, 2022
Funny how vata shooters, mnet and some big company stans ,dare i say even the industry itself are trying hard to repress everyones voice, this is not like the first case of plagiarism that atz has to face which is frustrating, like how are some#RESPECTATEEZ #SayMyName_ATEEZ
— Ay⩜⃝ 🏴☠️민기’s JONGHO DAY (@mingaya_TEEZ) October 12, 2022
Choreographers themselves many years of experience, hard work and thought process are behind these viral moments, so it’s an unacceptable and intolerable behavior to steal someone’s else creativity and on top of it staying silent about it, so it should be consequences for this
— Ay⩜⃝ 🏴☠️민기’s JONGHO DAY (@mingaya_TEEZ) October 12, 2022
Earlier in the season of Street Man Fighter, another contestant, Park Hyunse of YGX and Loyal Chumps, was allowed to issue an apology after he made an offensive now-deleted post on Instagram seemingly mocking rookie girl group NewJeans. While the issue was different than plagiarism, some fans are using this as another example that Mnet may be turning a blind eye in this particular situation towards ATEEZ.
[ARTICLE] — “Street Man Fighter’s YGX’s Park Hyunse “I’m sorry for the careless cover that I didn’t mean to belittle NewJeans”
Park Hyunse (HYUNSE), a member of the dance crew YGX apologized for the controversy over the choreography of the group NewJeans.
— NewJeans Central (@NewJeansCentral) August 25, 2022
So @MnetKR, When another crew had to apologize,They did it EVEN while filming. So why is Plagiarist Shameless Vata not saying anything? ATEEZ & Choreographers are the victim, Do you really supporting who plagiarized and copy others work? pic.twitter.com/ceOncsEjKX
— ⩜⃝TINY RIE 🏴☠️🖤 (@ATINYRIE28) October 12, 2022
The “Say My Name” plagiarism accusations and reactions have happened over the course of the past three or four days, and during that time, Vata and Mnet have been mostly silent about the ordeal. Mnet did make a brief statement saying that they were, “In the midst of arranging a position while respecting the situation of the artist (Vata) as much as possible”, further upsetting fans due to ATEEZ and their choreographers being the ones plagiarized in the situation.
[📰] It has already been 3 days since the controversy broke out, but ‘Street Man Fighter’ and Vata have not taken any stance. Mnet said to Joy News 24 on the 11th “We are in the midst of arranging a position while respecting the situation of the artist (Vata) as much as possible” pic.twitter.com/Z0wYbgqHUe
— za👩🏻⚕️| jongho day! (@zhouang) October 12, 2022
mnet’s all about “respecting artists” until it comes to ateez 😒 cutting screen time, improper green rooms or even just turning on their mics smh
— miri ʚɞ jongho month (@mylifeisyuyu) October 12, 2022
Last time I check you should respect an artist for their originality, mnet am i missing something? pic.twitter.com/t3HJT3W9fW
— 누 Nuu🏴☠️ SAY MY NAME REBIRTH💗 (@bitnajoonie) October 12, 2022
Oh and disrespecting the situation of the actual creators and ATEEZ??
— J🐻NGHO D⩜⃝ Y ° teezpilled (@t__spilled) October 12, 2022
In order to continue to demand an apology from Mnet and Vata, ATINYs have been flooding social media with hashtags and phrases such as #RESPECTATEEZ, #SayMyName_ATEEZ, “SAY MY NAME”, and “내 이름은 이름은 A to the Z” to keep the conversation alive and show that they won’t just let it go without a fight.
for wooyoung to speak up about this takes a lot, ateez have been quiet all year about the plagiarism they’d endured. we’re not allowing this to keep continually happening and for ateez’s hard work and efforts to go to waste. #RESPECTATEEZ
— v♡ 우영 protector (slow) (@angeIwooyo) October 12, 2022
This will not die down.#RESPECTATEEZ #SayMyName_ATEEZ
— kat🤍JONGHO BIRTH ♡ (@neoteez___) October 12, 2022
The message is clear… We won’t stop, this is just the beginning… It’s time to RESPECT ATEEZ, Anze Skrube & Josh Smith. 🔥
SAY MY NAME
내 이름은 이름은 A to Z#Driving_Dance_Challenge #RESPECTATEEZ #정우영사랑해챌린지#SayMyName_ATEEZ pic.twitter.com/u8IWH7UG5w— Ruchi SAY MY NAMEE (@RuchiFernando27) October 12, 2022
It’s so heartwarming to see other fandoms coming together to support #ATEEZ!! We love and appreciate you guys so much ❤️❤️#RESPECTATEEZ #SayMyName #driving_dance_challenge pic.twitter.com/9ZtmwlCVLg
— s⩜⃝ymyname🏴☠️ (@m1kr0k0sm0s7) October 13, 2022
I love how we all simultaneously decided to start the revolution again 🔥 seeing atiny united is the best thing ever 🥹💗
SAY MY NAME
내 이름은 이름은 A to the Z#정우영사랑해챌린지 #driving_dance_challenge #SayMyName_ATEEZ @ATEEZofficial #ATEEZ #에이티즈 #RESPECTATEEZ— shylo 🔱 (@shylo_atz) October 12, 2022
We hope that ATEEZ and their choreographers end up getting the response and treatment that they deserve in this situation, and receive proper credit for the incredible work that they do!
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