Upcoming Lee Soo Man Documentary Slammed Over “Disgusting” Usage Of SHINee Jonghyun’s Funeral Footage
A documentary about Lee Soo Man has already sparked backlash before its release.
Lee Soo Man, the founder of SM Entertainment, has remained a prominent figure in the entertainment industry. Given this and his past contributions to the industry, it is not surprising that he has become the subject of an upcoming documentary.
First reported in 2022, Amazon‘s Prime Video recently shared the release date for the upcoming Lee Soo Man: The King Of K-Pop documentary.
A trailer for the video, featuring many familiar faces from SM Entertainment’s history, was shared online on April 29.
However, along with the interviewed idols, were mentions of other stars, along with a section about the negative opinions about Lee Soo Man. The “Dark Side of K-Pop” being a subject used in western media was mentioned as well, with this section including a clip of SHINee Jonghyun’s funeral procession.
While there has been discussion on the usage of this term in western media, there has been significant backlash over the usage of Jonghyun’s funeral in the documentary.. Many found it to be disrespectful, accusing Lee Soo Man of using Jonghyun to make his own image better and reducing his art to this mention.
Reducing Jonghyun, his art, his life to a mere footnote in some twisted narrative about “kpops dark side” to make LSM look better is disgusting. Its vile. Using videos from his funeral to serve that agenda? Thats not just insensitive, its exploitative and absolutely sickening https://t.co/FAQz6ueu1D
— m∞ri – B2ST is back!🍊 (@jonghyunoutdid) April 29, 2025
⚠️We ask that you not support this documentary due to the lack of respect shown by the filmmakers in using photos of Jonghyun's funeral alongside the phrase "the dark side of K-pop."⚠️
Reducing Jonghyun to that phrase and using such sensitive images is really disrespectful. https://t.co/7hdXHvLWpT pic.twitter.com/hzWKnPAEXD
— Bling bling Leo ✨🌸(he/they) (@ElLeodowaldo) April 29, 2025
including funeral footage to reduce jonghyun’s life to a cautionary tale ab the dark side of kpop is so disrespectful. he was more than his passing – he was a musician, an artist, an activist, a friend and most importantly, a human being who deserves better. https://t.co/97ldlOYXGN
— ☆ (@ST4RWRLD) April 29, 2025
⚠️We ask that you not support this documentary due to the lack of respect shown by the filmmakers in using photos of Jonghyun's funeral alongside the phrase "the dark side of K-pop."⚠️
Reducing Jonghyun to that phrase and using such sensitive images is really disrespectful. https://t.co/7hdXHvLWpT pic.twitter.com/hzWKnPAEXD
— Bling bling Leo ✨🌸(he/they) (@ElLeodowaldo) April 29, 2025
Many also found the documentary to be disrespectful as a whole, as Lee Soo Man has been implicated in the mistreatment of idols under the label while he still involved.
You can call him king all you want bc he created the biggest names in the industry BUT he's also evil for creating the system we know now. The mistreatment, treating Idols like machines instead of humans.
Not to mention the blacklisting to those who are against the said system. https://t.co/FmbJDdJH0K
— eimi ✰.ᐟ (@ksoolina) April 29, 2025
If this doesn't end with the old hag giving a public apology and instead they somehow try to make Him look like the victim istg https://t.co/2K1VNZLVAd pic.twitter.com/9u0oWd5Vgy
— m (@noxsong) April 29, 2025
I think its so ironic to have a segment about 'the dark side of kpop' which mentions the struggles of idols such as the 'slave contracts' when it was lee sooman himself the one that made that whole sistem up, it's literally his fault https://t.co/imbLKardxD
— wintershawol /saw taemin 😭 (@wintershawol) April 29, 2025
Lee Soo Man: King Of K-Pop will be available for streaming on May 13.
