Exo’s Chen has been on hiatus since 2020 because fans weren’t happy about his sudden marriage, while his bandmate Chanyeol was accused of cheating by an alleged ex.
Red Velvet’s Irene and Lesserafim’s Garam are in trouble for bullying claims, while NCT’s Lucas is on hiatus too for cheating accusations from multiple women.
K-pop fans often go all out to show their love for their favourite groups and members, from sending fan mail to renting entire billboards. It’s a well-known fact that some fans are more than happy to go above and beyond to show their love towards idols.
But it’s not always sunshine and rainbows for K-pop group members – sometimes they make mistakes too. And sometimes these are just too atrocious for fans to stay quiet – many of them have even demanded the offending member to leave the group. These idols are usually forced to take a hiatus or, in the worst case scenario, actually quit their band.
So which idols disappointed their fans so strongly that people demanded they leave?
Lesserafim’s Garam
The 16-year-old singer has made headlines for all the wrong reasons as she was accused of being a bully in school. Though the group’s agency, Source Music (part of Hybe), initially released a statement defending her, recent evidence only supported the initial allegations, turning the group’s fans against her.
A video of the girls performing recently went viral, where fans stopped their cheers specifically when Garam was in the centre, and the hashtags #Garam_Leave and #GaramBully trended on Korean Twitter as well, with fans demanding that she be taken out of the group. Eventually, Garam was put on hiatus from group activities. The girls still remain performing as a five-member group and Garam’s future is still in the dark.
Exo’s Chen
Chen famously had a spontaneous marriage to his then-girlfriend, a non-celebrity, in 2020 – who also happened to be pregnant at the time. Fan reactions were extremely polarised, with some voicing their support, while others – admittedly the most vocal – expressed their anger and disappointment. Not only did they release a statement demanding Chen apologise, they even protested outside the SM Coex Artium in Seoul, demanding he leave his group, Exo.
Though Chen enlisted for his mandatory military service later that year, fans’ disappointment was refuelled when it was announced that he and his wife welcomed their second 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥 in early 2022. He hasn’t participated in any major Exo activities since then – mostly due to his enlistment – and his position in the group still remains unclear.
Exo’s Chanyeol
The year 2020 was certainly an interesting one for Exo, as October of the same year saw another member become the target of fans’ anger – albeit mostly Korean fans. On an online community, an alleged ex-girlfriend accused Chanyeol of cheating countless times during their three-year relationship. Neither Chanyeol nor SM Entertainment commented on the matter, and Korean fans were quick to demand he leave the group, posting a statement in another online fan community.
He laid low for a while and eventually came back to social media in early 2021, posting a heartfelt letter to fans. SM Entertainment sued his accuser in March for spreading false rumours. Chanyeol participated in Exo’s comeback in June 2021, and it seems the scandal ended with him rather unscathed.
NCT’S Lucas
Fan fury over idol relationship scandals continued when, in August 2021, Lucas was accused by several alleged ex-girlfriends of cheating, gaslighting and even leeching money off of them. Lucas, in true K-pop fashion, posted a handwritten apology admitting to his actions not long after, and angry fans quickly took to social media to demand he leave the group.
They got the hashtag #Lucas_Out trending and the fire was only fuelled when more evidence against Lucas came to light. The scandal came right before the release of he and bandmate Hendery’s song Jalapeño, which had to be indefinitely postponed, and Lucas has been on a hiatus since.
Red Velvet’s Irene
When a fashion editor accused a girl group member of horrible treatment and abuse of power in the workplace, people quickly guessed she was talking about Irene from the subtle clues in her words. Irene did admit to her mistakes and issued an apology, but that wasn’t enough to satisfy fans and the Korean public, who quickly demanded she leave the group to save the band’s image.
SM Entertainment announced that Irene had personally apologised to the stylist later, but she still went on almost a year-long hiatus before rejoining the group during its August 2021 comeback.
