On 8th March, INTERSECTION’s (インターセクション) Kazuma Mitchell (ミッチェル和馬) had recently withdrawn from Tencent’s Chinese idol survival show “Produce Camp 2021” (创造营2021). It was surprising for many fans as the Japanese-American trainee was still filming the show on 7th March.
Rumours were circulating on the same day that certain idols will be withdrawing from the competition. Names that were mentioned included AVEX labelmates like Mika Hashizume (橋爪ミカ), Santa (サンタ), Caelan Moriarty (モリアティー慶怜), and Rikimaru (リキマル).
The 20-year-old is also under AVEX and was rumoured to be leaving the show as well. However, he was the only one confirmed to be withdrawing from “Produce Camp 2021”. The other members’ fan clubs announced that the rumours around their respective idols were false.
Kazuma took to Weibo on 8th March to explain why he wanted to leave the show via video. He stated that he had family issues and had to leave the show to deal with them. The INTERSECTION idol said that he will continue his dreams and come back to China.
Kazuma also thanked his fans for their support and apologised to his group members, Mika and Caelan, for leaving so soon. He hoped that his fans will still support them alongside the other trainees. Kazuma is currently trending on the Chinese platform due to the confirmed rumours. The video has garnered millions of views on Weibo.
Kazuma was born in New York, 20 years ago and moved to Tokyo with his family when he was 8 years old. The New Yorker is also an exclusive model for the men’s magazine, “Men’s Non-No”.
He joined as a member of the Japanese-American group INTERSECTION and was accepted to Harvard in 2018. One of the group’s songs was featured as an ending theme for the popular anime “Black Clover” (ブラッククローバー). The anime also featured songs from K-Pop groups like TXT (투모로우바이투게더) and TREASURE (트레저).
Recently, Kazuma took a huge break from his studies in order to participate in “Idol Camp 2021”.
His fans, especially Chinese fans, clearly loved the INTERSECTION idol. They would spend their time and effort to put Kazuma in the top 11. “Produce Camp 2021” has started airing on 17th February. On 25th February, he was in 6th place. But on 4th March, the idol was in 4th place.
The idol’s popularity was no joke at all. As much as it’s sad to see him leave, Kazuma had to do so for good reasons. Hopefully, fans can still support him even without his presence in the survival show. We wish him luck!
Update (11th March):
https://twitter.com/KazumaKaz_0515/status/1369610327319441410?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1369610327319441410%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2F38jiejie.com%2F2021%2F03%2F11%2Fchuang-2021-trainee-kazuma-gets-warm-send-off-from-fans-promises-he-will-return-to-china%2F
Following his exit from “Chuang 2021”, Kazuma Mitchell received a warm send-off by loyal fans, who showed up at the airport to bid him goodbye. Kazuma responded: “I will come back soon – as soon as possible!”
Source: Overseas Idol, Trend & Chaos.
