“Prosopagnosia Cured?” BIGHIT MUSIC’s Response About HYBE Chairman’s Stateside Sighting Intensely Ridiculed
After a video captured HYBE‘s chairman Bang Si Hyuk in Beverly Hills, California, with two influencers, including popular AfreecaTV streamer Juice Seyeon…
HYBE’s Bang Si Hyuk Spotted In Beverly Hills With Popular Racy Influencer
…BIGHIT MUSIC was quick to take down accounts circulating the video online.
According to an official response provided by BIGHIT MUSIC, Bang “ran into” the influencers and gave them tips for touring Los Angeles.
While meeting with acquaintances, [Bang Si Hyuk] ran into the older of the two influencers and gave her advice on handling entertainment imposters. Afterward, [the two influencers] came to Los Angeles together and asked about tourist attractions and restaurants. So, he guided them and helped them with making reservations.
— BIGHIT MUSIC
The response has since been ridiculed for contradicting his excuse from May 2024 when he was accused of ignoring NewJeans members in the HYBE building when greeted.
Whenever NewJeans members ran into Bang Si Hyuk in the company building, Bang Si Hyuk would pretend not to recognize them and turn a blind eye to their greetings. At first, we didn’t believe our children, thinking, ‘Oh, he probably just didn’t recognize them back then.’ But this has happened several times since then, on different dates and in different locations. Even when it was just Bang Si Hyuk and the members, too. So we believe there is no other explanation to his behavior except that he does it on purpose, recognizing they are, in fact, NewJeans.
— NewJeans Members’ Parents
In response to the accusatory claims of NewJeans members’ parents, Bang had alleged that he has difficulty recognizing faces. HYBE’s CEO Park Ji Won claimed that Bang could have prosopagnosia, “a condition that renders one unable to remember and recognize faces.”
Inevitably, Bang’s latest explanation for his interaction with the streamers has online communities slamming him left and right. Koreans sneered at Bang, congratulating him on having his case of prosopagnosia cured, but also calling out what a ridiculous explanation it had been from the beginning.
- “Perhaps he sees [the streamers] more often than he sees the idols in his building. So often that he has no trouble recognizing them.”
- “LMAO.”
- “Congratulations! I hope he can now accept the greetings from the idols under his labels.”
- “Wow, prosopagnosia cured! Congratulations!”
- “What the f*ck, haha.”
- “Looks like he’ll be greeting people better now.”
- “Haha.”
- “Prosopagnosia, cured! Congrats!”
- “It could have been a selective condition… LOL.”
- “Congratulations!”
- “Bahaha.”
- “He ignored NewJeans members because he couldn’t recognize their faces. But he ‘ran into’ the streamers and then proceeded to give them a tour and spend time with them? A case of selective prosopagnosia, if I’ve ever seen one. LMAO.”
- “For real… His prosopagnosia must be selective because he recognized Sakura and those streamers with no problem.”
- “Wants to be the next DiCaprio.”
- “HYBE needs to stop issuing official statements, period.”
- “Looks like he had no trouble recognizing the streamers, like he had no trouble recognizing Sakura. Disgusting.”
- “Sure, he could have run into them. But the fact that he must have recognized them…? He must have been a fan, LOL.”
- “Run into them, huh? LOL. It’s hilarious that he even knew who the two were. Most people would not have known.”
- “How pathetic. The streamer and I are the same age. Like, f*cking gross…”
- “LOL.”
- “There is no such thing as ‘running into’ people like that.”
That said, prosopagnosia is currently incurable.
Prosopagnosia is currently incurable. Treatment focuses on ‘workarounds’ and other coping skills that can assist prosopagnosics in identifying other people without reliance on facial cues. This might include noting a person’s height, build, clothing, accessories, vocal mannerisms, and gait as sources of recognition.
— Baptist Health
Read more about Bang’s alleged face blindness here:
Bang Si Hyuk Allegedy Uses Prosopagnosia As Excuse To Why He Did Not Greet NewJeans
