You would think a collaboration performance between 2 rappers from different idol groups would warrant a celebration from fans, but sadly, the opposite happened.
On Monday (15th August), YG Entertainment announced that WINNER’s Mino will be appearing as a guest for iKON’s Japanese concert tour as part of the promotions for Bobby and Mino’s upcoming sub-unit. Unfortunately, because the entertainment mishandled the issue, it has caused both iKONICs (as fans of iKON are known) and Inner Circles (as fans of WINNER are known) to condemn the decision.
When tickets for the tour went on sale, iKONICs were appalled when they found out that the company also opened ticket sales to Inner Circles, which meant that there will be less seats for the former. In contrast, Inner Circles are angry at the company for planning to send their beloved rapper to and fro Japan for a total of 28 times, just to belt out 2 songs.
Fans of iKON also claim that it is unfair for YG Entertainment to allow Bobby and Mino to have a collaboration stage in an iKON concert, as not even the iKON members “have a unit stage of their own”. “Having a guest perform 14 times at iKON’s arena tour is a selfish decision by YG without consideration for either fandoms,” said several iKONICs.
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This is also not Inner Circles’ first instance of being upset with the company. WINNER’s EXIT “E” series was released in February, but despite YG Entertainment’s promise that the remainder “X”, “I”, and “T” series would be released this year, nothing has surfaced.
iKON’s tour will be held at 5 cities in Japan, spanning a total of 14 shows and with an expected audience reach of 150,000. More specifically, they will be performing in Chiba, Aichi, Osaka, Hyogo, Fukuoka and more.
WINNER and iKON were previously pitted against each other in the reality survival program “WIN: Who Is Next” on Mnet as Team A (known as WINNER now) and Team B (known as iKON now). Team A emerged victorious and had their debut in 2014 while iKON debuted in late 2015.
Sources: soompi, Netizen Buzz.
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