NPR’s “Humiliating” Mention Of SEVENTEEN In Year-End List Triggers Heavily Mixed Reactions
Earlier this year, SEVENTEEN appeared on NPR‘s (National Public Radio) “Tiny Desk” Series.
NPR is the United States’ public radio network, and “Tiny Desk Concert” features famous musicians performing on a tiny desk/space.
SEVENTEEN’s episode of the program was shared in late November 2025 and featured six members of the group performing a medley of songs.
NPR recently published an article documenting the the best Tiny Desk concerts of the year, and SEVENTEEN were included. However, the mention has not been entirely well-received.
In the article, SEVENTEEN’s concert is named the “Most likely to upset a fandom,” with the reason given being due to reactions to D.K. not being included in the concert.
Despite months of planning and preparation, the SEVENTEEN concert didn’t turn out as expected. Days before the recording, D.K — one of the leaders of the vocal unit — lost his voice. Knowing it would likely be years before we could reschedule, our teams decided to proceed without him. Little did we know how truly upset the fans (aka Carats) would be! After thousands of angry comments on Instagram and YouTube, we messaged the audience to explain the situation. What felt like a disaster, thankfully settled down.
—Suraya Mohamed, executive producer
This portion of the article was reposted on X, where fans chimed in on the mention on the list.
Many felt that the criticism of the fandom was valid, stating that blame should have been placed on HYBE/Pledis for not notifying fans. Others also mentioned that reactions did not have to be what they were from fans in the first place.
"this could have been prevented if…" "if only pledis and HYBE…"
Actually, this could have been prevented if some of y'all kept the complaining and bitching to Pledis and HYBE. You know, the people you're actually blaming? But instead you harassed NPR themselves. https://t.co/XzCpeuWwBt
— jh akgae bcs plybe is shit (@jhvcudefender) December 30, 2025
Carats will never take accountability for ruining something big yall were not only attacking the people who run tiny desk but also the svt members and were saying nasty things so yes yall should be embarrassed because it wasn’t the members nor the tiny desk producer https://t.co/lI4L7S8t3V
— ✨KOKO ✨ (@sunny_nonie) December 30, 2025
A clean reputation and *positive* fan engagement is what leads to exciting opportunities for idol groups. Especially in Western markets, where "…but kpop fans are crazy!" is a common thought.
Frustration should've never been directed to NPR. We must do better. https://t.co/xBGfPp2oUu
— symph 🤍 (@svt_mphony) December 30, 2025
Other fans felt that the mention of SEVENTEEN could have included mentions of their performance like the other acts mentioned in the article, while agreeing with the criticism of some fans’ behavior.
So I decided to read the article, and yes.. NPR is valid for addressing it, but in an article where the rest is praise of the other artists? They could’ve wrote about multiple different things about SEVENTEEN themselves. Instead, they dedicate their whole section about the… https://t.co/c2C6SkCC8O
— gyuswrld (@gyustudio) December 30, 2025
Unpopular opinion: Yes, we should be embarrassed for how the spamming looked, but this article is incredibly one-sided and missing so much context. It targets DK specifically, while ignoring that Jun, Minghao and S.Coups were also absent, which naturally heightened the concern.… https://t.co/doClf747WM
— Tangerine Moon¹⁷🇹🇷 (@NaVigatorBird) December 30, 2025
Okay two things. Those people should NOT have directed their anger at NPR (OR SEVENTEEN!) but also NPR comes off as unprofessional for ignoring everything positive and painting the whole fandom as this angry thing and not writing anything about SVT's impressive performance. https://t.co/RPltaklSVi
— sonomari (@sonomarijww) December 30, 2025
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