Fatou Samba, a member of the K-pop girl group BLACKSWAN (블랙스완), has finally spoken up to reveal her side of the story after she was accused of bullying her fellow member, Leia.
For the uninitiated, the whole drama between the two foreign K-pop idols started after a Brazilian fan page dedicated to the latter member uploaded some private conversations they had with one of her alleged relatives. According to the messages, Fatou had apparently been bullying Leia since October 2021.
Durante a última madrugada, um familiar próximo de Leia nos mandou uma mensagem direta desesperada dizendo que a idol está sendo vítima de bullying por Fatou. [+]
— CLOSED (@AccessLeia) November 12, 2021
They also alleged that Fatou would bully Leia with “intimidation, provocation, and oppression”, before adding that the tension between the duo has gotten worse recently. The messenger later pointed out that Fatou was the reason why Leia has been so quiet on their live broadcasts and is barely active online.
Not only that, it was revealed that Leia had allegedly tried to reach out to their managers as well as their agency’s president, but nothing was done about the situation. It was noted that Leia had also removed several posts with Fatou on her social media.
Espero que entendam que eu nunca postaria nada que não fosse verdade por qualquer que fosse o motivo. Não me importa se vocês acreditarão em mim ou não, mas eu tenho a consciência limpa de que eu fiz minha parte e não menti em momento algum. https://t.co/quWp1GXkrN pic.twitter.com/rk3VdcASpv
— CLOSED (@AccessLeia) November 12, 2021
Fans were hesitant to believe the claims initially, as the Portuguese insider appeared to have several grammatical mistakes in the messages. Not long after that, Leia posted her first tweet in almost 11 months, saying, “I don’t think it’s cool to keep talking about other people’s language. Everyone knows that in Brazil, not everyone has the opportunity to study.” Leia also was seen liking a tweet stating that her family would expose the situation (since she is Brazilian) if something terrible happened to her.
On 14th November, the alleged “bully”, Fatou, responded to the accusations in a now-deleted post on Twitter. In a shocking turn of events, the Senegalese idol revealed that she has been tolerating Leia’s manipulative and disrespectful behaviour, to the point where Leia disrespected her family when the group was in Belgium.
According to Fatou, Leia is a “gigantic headache to everyone in the the company. From our CEO to our teachers down to us, the members. The biggest problem is (that) she always, every single second of the day— she thinks only about herself. This is a group. She’s not a solo artist. Without any consideration (for) the people around her. She does whatever she wants without ever thinking about other people.”
Fatou later claimed that if they say something that Leia disagrees with, she will recreate the story to paint herself as the victim. The idol recounted the time when they were promoting their latest song “Close To Me” on “Music Bank”, saying, “While waiting for our performance, our fan manager told us to take pictures individually for our group’s Instagram. So that’s what I was doing, when she suddenly appeared next to me to take pictures together.”
She added, “I told her that I needed to take pictures alone this time like everyone was doing, and she too at that point. But because I said no, she brought it up during a meeting with our director. She claimed that I didn’t like her, and that is why I didn’t want to take any pictures with her.”
Fatou also claimed that Leia has started telling her friend that she does not want to be part of the group and that she would ruin the group once she’s out. Additionally, Fatou revealed in her statement that she was shocked when she heard this and she soon found out that Leia had badmouthed her behind her back.
The 26-year-old singer added that Leia would get jealous when the other members have more followers on social media compared to her. According to Fatou, Leia had once declared that BLACKSWAN only has a large following because of her.
Fatou also spilled that Leia had lied about consuming pills because of her. In this case, she revealed that her fellow member had mental problems since she was young, and had to be on medication. She also claimed that Leia lied about suffering from a slipped disc when she joined the agency. Apparently, Leia had gotten the injury when she was still in Brazil.
Fatou then recalled how Leia had disrespected her family. When they were in Belgium, Fatou was able to see her family, which apparently did not sit right with the other member. She said that she did not want to visit Belgium, while pointing out that it was unfair that Fatou could visit her family. Following the incident, Leia was apparently cold towards Fatou’s family.
This friction between Fatou and Leia only became worse. That being said, she revealed that on 25th October, she exploded at Leia after she kept denying her bad behaviour. Fatou admitted that she said many harsh things, which she regrets because she “never should’ve stooped as low as her.”
In closing, Fatou insisted that she and the other members have done nothing but support Leia for the past two years. However, Leia has been ungrateful while being two-faced to the people around her. To quote the lady herself, “One day, you will meet someone who will not accept you as gracefully as we did.”
You can read Fatou’s full statement below:
Here’s all the full text of Fatou calling Leia out.
Only reason I’m posting is because Fatou ain’t do sht to Leia and that Leia was actually the aggressor.
Now y’all racist azz fans need to apologize! pic.twitter.com/DV03mCpJf1— a hˣlo in the floverse 🪐 (@jesspopgirl) November 14, 2021
Fatou and Leia made their official debut with BLACKSWAN (formerly known as Rania) in October 2020. If you recall, Leia has been a member of the girl group since 2019. Seeing as how things have gotten so ugly, can BLACKSWAN still continue as a solid unit?
