Verbal Jint Heavily Criticized for Celebrating the Suicide of an “Nth Room” Member
Korean musician, Verbal Jint has recently come under fire for celebrating the suicide of a man in his 20s following his participation in the infamous “Nth Room” which tortured and sexually assaulted underage girls for paid members of the chatrooms.
Verbal Jint recently took to his Instagram Story to share a screenshot of the news article reporting the man’s death and added a caption that expressed his joy.
I’m so happy. When a few more people die, I’m going to put out a celebration song. Let’s reveal all of their identities.
– Verbal Jint
According to the police, the man in his 20s was found dead in his home by his family not long after he turned himself in for possessing a photo from the “Nth Room”.
While receiving treatment for attempting to poison himself, he ultimately made an extreme decision and ended his own life.
Despite netizens criticizing him for speaking lightly of such an unfortunate circumstance, Verbal Jint added posts that read, “Let’s go” and “Meant it when I said it“, suggesting that he wasn’t going to back down.
Some netizens even pointed to Verbal Jint’s past drinking and driving incident as well as his lyrics for “Let’s Go”, which was criticized for sexual harassment, and questioned if he had the right to blame others for crimes.
In response, Verbal Jint released a formal apology, but even that is being criticized for taking the situation too lightly.
Read the full translated apology below:
Today was a crazy day.
I had a feeling my expressions would be circulated online, but I had no idea it would cause fights. I feel like I impusively expressed the thoughts I’ve been holding in through Instagram Story, and I didn’t do it to yield some kind of reaction.
What I’m thinking is:
‘If a female celebrity made that post, how many threats would they have received?’ (I’m aware that the courageous hae already expressed their opinions)
‘Maybe the emojis and comments of ridicule that I posted could have made people forget how serious this was for a few seconds. I regret that.’
‘What if the people who agreed with me end up suffering some kind of disadvantage in their lives going forward?’
That’s pretty much it.
In the past, I’ve committed many acts of attacks and discrimination. And as I see the thousands of DMs sympathizing with my impulsive and immature posts, it makes me realize just how messy the current situation is.
And thank you to those who reminded me of my past drinking and driving incident and inappropriate lyrics. I need those reminders. I’m trying to remember that when Korean men let their guard down for just a moment, they can easily turn into the devil.
I will shut up now and quietly support and cheer them on.
– Verbal Jint
