Fourth-Gen Female Idol Hit With Fierce Backlash For Inviting Male Idol Group

Recently, singer Lee Chaeyeon received brutal backlash online while preparing for an event.

However, she received much criticism on online community sites for inviting a male idol group.

To give a bit of a backstory, while Lee Chaeyeon was preparing for a flea market, she invited a male idol group from her agency to come. However, the male idol group’s fans criticized her for using them when their concert was just a week away. To this, Lee stated that she had asked them several times if it was ok to come, and the group responded that it was fine.

Most recently, on May 26, she posted a long message on a fan messaging platform regarding the matter.

“How should I say this? Since I’ve started my YouTube channel, I’ve never once invited someone on my show who didn’t want to be on it—every little thing, including the thumbnail, is confirmed before uploading.

Of course, there will still be parts that are lacking. It’s my first time doing YouTube, how can I be perfect in everything? However, I am always ready to fix things that are wrong.

I previously announced that there would be a behind-the-scenes camera for the flea market preparations. But the agency didn’t seem to know about it. So they told me not to post it. Because I know what part they are worried about. But then you shouldn’t have come. Why do the other sellers suffer the damages…and the producer and director who edited and filmed it? Why does this flea market, which was started for a good cause, have to be damaged like this?

And I told the group they didn’t have to do it since their schedules didn’t match. Do you know why it ended up having six episodes? Because they wanted to do it. They had a fan sign event that day and asked for it to be filmed after the event, so we changed the filming schedule for them. And since they wanted to do it so badly, we recruited guests for each episode. Do you know why I am even telling you all this? The artists prepared so hard for this because they wanted to meet their fans up close, and I don’t know how much of the blame I’m supposed to take for this.”

— Lee Chaeyeon

She continued that she would no longer ask for people to be guests.

Let me make this clear. I will never be asking for people to be guests anymore. Even if you want to, I will block it. Of course, you all don’t need me. I won’t take care anymore. If I take care of it, then some might think, ‘Who are you to do that?’ I prepared hard because they were colleagues whom I have always supported and rooted for. I am going to make an event just for my fans. If that group’s fans really want me to, I am ready to take them out of the videos.

— Lee Chaeyeon

Seeing this, netizens defended Chaeyeon, stating that fans have overreacted to the matter.

• “They’re just destroying the relationship between colleagues. The fans should just put their ‘oppas’ on an island so that they are the only ones that can see them…”
• “What the f*ck. They’ve been criticizing her for a week. Talking about their busy schedules is just an excuse. They just don’t like seeing a female idol around their artists.”
• “What in the world is going on…”
• “Why would Chaeyeon use ONF? It’s not like they’re some popular group that would make her video rise to the trending charts..are they?”
• “They appeared because they said they wanted to, so they extended the time and were being considerate with good intentions…she must be so frustrated seeing fans thinking that she’s pretending to be friendly and blocking their concert schedule.”
• “Fans that are just crazy over men.”