“Popularity Award” Gone Wrong: Fans Demand Hyeri, IU, And Kim Hye Yoon Be Disqualified
On April 23, 2025 (KST), the prestigious Baeksang Awards announced ten days of voting for the PRIZM Popularity Awards through the PRIZM app. Given that the 60th Baeksang Awards in 2024 received 11M+ votes for these Popularity Awards, K-Entertainment fans anticipated another round of fierce competition.
For 2025’s “61st Baeksang Awards,” 70 candidates—35 men and 35 women—from TV and film categories were selected as nominees. One male and one female nominee receiving the most votes will take home the award on May 5. According to the PRIZM app, each account can cast up to four free votes per day, with voting tickets replenished at midnight daily. Additionally, users can earn two extra votes by sharing the voting certificate page once.
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That said, some videos of macro programs (automated voting) rigging the competition for the female stars nominated for the Popularity Award have since surfaced online, creating a lot of buzz around the “Top 3” stars, who currently have 2-3 million votes each.
Girl’s Day member-turned-actress Hyeri of Victory, singer and actress IU of When Life Gives You Tangerines, and actress Kim Hye Yoon of Lovely Runner are leading the competition…
…but amid the videos circulating online, fans are now demanding that the three be disqualified for “obviously rigged” voting results.
- “What’s the point of giving out a popularity award if they’re going to rig it like this?”
- “This is so disgraceful, seriously.”
- “It would be better to just get rid of the popularity award.”
- “All three are using macros — they should be disqualified from the nominees.”
- “If they’re using macros, shouldn’t all three be disqualified?”
- “Judging by the vote counts, looks like all three are using macros… Baeksang needs to exclude them.”
- “Wow, they’re even running macros for this… I’m voting diligently though…”
- “Why go that far? LOL. I now know that the fandoms for Hyeri, IU, and Kim Hye Yoon are intense.”
- “Baeksang, you idiots, count out the macros, seriously.”
- “What are they even doing?”
- “It seems like all three are using macros, but the real problem is Baeksang’s inability to filter those votes out.”
Baeksang Awards has not responded to the growing speculations about these automated and manipulated votes.
Read more:
The “61st Baeksang Arts Awards” Announces The Best Actor And Actress Award Nominee List
