Time of reckoning
Why fans continue to defend BigBang’s Seungri.
BIGBANG is one of South Korea’s biggest boybands and its youngest member Seungri has been hogging the headlines in recent months – but for all the wrong reasons.
His announcement that he was quitting show business on March 11 came on the heels of a string of allegations from pimping to drug use at his club.
The recent spate of events is all the more shocking as the general consensus among fans was that Seungri, 28, was doing particularly well in recent years.
He was enjoying his solo time in the limelight after the four older members of BigBang – G-Dragon, T.O.P., Taeyang and Daesung – enlisted in the army. He styled himself as the “Great Seungri”, a moniker which playfully paid homage to the Great Gatsby of fiction.
So when news of the Burning Sun incident first broke – staff of his Seoul nightclub were accused of assaulting a customer last November – it came as a shock.
Out came a list of tawdry details and allegations, that Seungri procured prostitutes for his clients and enjoyed watching hiddening camera videos of drugged women.
Yet he still enjoys the support of many fans. The people behind tweets and Instagram posts ardently proclaim- Seungri’s innocence seem to be unwilling to accept that he could be a flawed person. To them, it is inconceivable that their “oppa” (older brother) could do such a thing.
This perspective mostly comes from the way K-pop stars are marketed. They are viewed by some fans as virginal singing and dancing machines, always thin and ageless, with perpetual smiles on their faces. Angels, some might go so far to say, who do not need to eat, sleep or date.
Even more dangerous is the surprisingly common opinion that K-pop stars “belong” to those who support them: They are the perfect boyfriends and girlfriends that fans desire to possess.
It is hence in the interest of K-pop stars to keep up their saccharine-sweet personas well into their 30s. This is simply good for business – and also allows stars to shield the people they date from unwanted attention and harassment.
Given such an environment, it is perhaps not that surprising there are fans who believe the Burning Sun scandal was fabri- cated to bring Seungri down.
What is unusual in this case was also the singer’s reaction.
Faced with a scandal, most South Korean celebrities apologise to their fans through their management companies, then retreat into their Gangnam and Cheongdamdong mansions to ride things out.
But unlike his band mates T.O.P. and G-Dragon, who both faced allegations of drug use, Seungri chose to announce his retirement. Management agency YG Entertainment has since terminated his contract.
This is a time of reckoning for the singer and, perhaps, for his fans as well as they come face to face with the inescapable truth: K-pop stars are human beings who can, and will, err. – The
Straits Times/Asia
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