These past few weeks have been an eventful one for rookie girl group Le Sserafim, particularly member Kim Garam (김가람). The young idol was slapped with bullying accusations, just days before she made her official K-pop debut. Just recently, the matter was brought to light once again after the victim spoke up on the incident.
It all started after several alleged schoolmates of Garam uploaded past photos of her, fueling up the netizens’ speculation regarding the rumour. Among the viral images include selfie photos of her with a shocking caption that reads, “What do you think of (having) sex with me today?”, in addition to several other receipts.
It didn’t take long before Le Sserafim’s agency, Source Music, to step forward to deny the claims. They explained that those allegations were false and revealed their plans to take legal action. The company also stated that Garam was actually a victim of cyberbullying. She was also said to be a target of malicious comments during her middle school days.
Following this, the alleged victim, known as Yoo Eunseo, decided to break her silence on the allegations. The legal firm representing Eunseo released a statement explaining her side regarding the bullying incident, in addition to the details of the lawsuit. Read the full statement here (via @thektea):
HYBE soon issued their joint statement with Source Music in response to the statement posted by the victim’s law firm. The entertainment agency stated that they didn’t actively explain the details as a lot of those involved were still minors. They continued to put the legal firm on blast over their one-sided take on the controversy. Not only that, the agencies later emphasised that the allegations are false, and they will take further legal action.
Needless to say, netizens were less than impressed with HYBE’s approach on the ongoing controversy. Most of them claimed that the agency should’ve handled the situation better. Others also called for the “Fearless” singer to leave the group permanently.
Among the highlighted comments include:
- “HYBE is so bad at handling the situation.”
- “I really don’t know why they want to keep her in the group.”
- “The members were calling her Soft Tofu, lol. As if Soft Tofu would make Kim Garam’s image better, lol”
- “Kim Garam and HYBE just screwed over someone’s life. Just kick her out.”
- “At this point, HYBE is also an assailant.”
- “When the controversy first broke out, they should have removed her from the group instead of keeping her.”
In light of the recent controversy surrounding Garam, it was revealed that the six-member group would be putting to halt all their scheduled appearance for today (Friday, 20th May). This include “Music Bank” and video call fan-signing. Source Music stated, “We apologise to the fans who were waiting (to see the group).
They added, “We ask for the understanding of those who had been selected to attend the pre-recording for ‘Music Bank.’ Also, we plan to hold the video call fan signing event a separate time, and we will provide the fans who were selected to attend the event with additional information soon.”
In all honestly, we can’t help but to wonder how long will Le Sserafim will be under hiatus . But then again, we believe it’s the best for the girls.
Sources: AllKpop (1)(2), The K-tea, Soompi, Koreaboo.
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