Fact Check: Did Former NCT Member Lucas Talk About RIIZE Seunghan’s Dating Scandal And Other K-Pop Groups?
In late May, after nearly two years of an extended hiatus due to gaslighting allegations, it was announced that Lucas would leave WAYV and NCT.
Lucas is still signed to SM Entertainment and, as stated in the initial announcement, would be established as an individual artist. This included moving his account on the fan communication platform Bubble to his solo category, where he has been active since.
On August 28, the idol sent messages on Bubble that inspired some anger and criticism from fans of NCT. NCT U recently returned with “Baggy Jeans,” and Lucas sent a short message showing support for the track.
Baggy jeans is too cool, please support it a lotㅋㅋ 👍
— Lucas
Following this, more messages seemingly sent by Lucas appeared online, though with messages very different from his previous ones. One message appeared to call out other boy groups that fans were interested in.
Don’t cheat on me with Treasure, TheBoy, Enhipen. I’ll do better.
— Lucas
A second circulating message claimed that Lucas said he would replace RIIZE‘s Seunghan in the group following the latter’s recent dating scandal.
Seunghan’s gunna be removed from RIIZE, and it was determined that I’ll join. Wait for it.
— Lucas
While these messages would certainly inspire criticism that fans would feel completely justified, there seems to be more to this than at the surface.
Not long after these messages surfaced, a Lucas fanbase began instructing fans to report an account to SM Entertainment’s Kwangya 119 service.
Kwangya 119 is a website where fans can report slander and other attacks on SM Entertainment artists. The fanbase’s tweet claimed that the circulating tweets were not actually from Lucas but photoshopped images.
↝ 💛 ↜
Hello Everyone
Please report this accounts to Kwangya 119 as Fake News! This acc is photoshoping and spreading wrong infos about #LUCAS Lysn Bubble Updates
Please report to Kwangya 119 pic.twitter.com/vgffkiJzGy
— ꜰᴏʀ LUCAS ⁰¹²⁵⭒ (@LucasBook_444) August 30, 2023
But are these messages really photoshopped?
There are multiple noticeable differences when comparing Bubble messages from Lucas and other artists to the circulated messages. For one, the profile picture on official accounts has a ring of color around the image when viewing messages and say the word ARTIST.
In addition to the misspellings of the group names mentioned, a number does not appear next to the time of Bubble messages, either.
While fans will sometimes do things to protect their favorite idols from negative reactions, it seems like Lucas did not send these controversial messages.
