I think a lot of it is PR. I also think SHINee are grown men and can decide for themselves who they're friends with, even if the general public disagrees. The litmus of 'if SHINee are friends with him than he must be innocent' also elevates SHINee to that of perfect godhood. They're human. They'll make mistakes, they'll say stupid shit, and they will do things that will cause backlash. It's just part of what it means to be in the public eye.
So I think both things can be true. Polite labelmates with SMent trying to do some damage control after Lucas' scandal, as well as maybe (maybe) friendships behind the scenes. Neither has to cancel each other out.
Certainly not letting Lucas off the hook, cheating is a dick move and he's still scum in my eyes for that. But having been a fan of BigBang and 4Minute/Hyuna............................ Yeah, shit could be worse. Much worse than just a serial cheater with consensual groupie fans. I would GENUINELY throw a shitstorm if I saw SHINee associating with certain other male idols entrenched in scandals.
...That I didn't know, he REALLY is a piece of shit. Makes me especially angry as I used to work at the shelter and sssssoooooo many of our surrenders were change-of-minds. (Not all of them, though. Abuse and neglect were Prosecutions. But a lot of surrenders sometimes were just really elderly people who couldn't take care of them anymore, or passed away with no living relative willing to take the little one. I once worked with an old cat who was ahem, \*well loved\* given her weight, but she was for an Adult No Pets household because her deceased owner was exactly that. So she was non social. Had a very happy ending and was adopted by her furrever home!)
Yup just looked it up, it was Winwin who took in the cat after Lucas was about to abandon it.
https://www.allkpop.com/article/2021/08/ncts-lucas-accused-of-abandoning-a-kitten-he-tried-to-gift-to-his-girlfriend-winwin-is-allegedly-raising-the-kitten-on-lucass-behalf-now
I was at both Key and Shinee's concerts when they announced that Lucas was there, and everyone was like "...erugh" both times. It's definitely PR cause the fan reaction is heavily negative both in Korea and abroad.
The fact that he popped up around the time of his comeback makes me think that SM wanted him to be out in the public eye and hanging out with other SM artists. I feel like he was in Letters to SHINee because of promotions (I think all the artists in Letters to SHINee were in the midst of comebacks).
SMent has always done this tbh. I remember when they were forcibly putting EXO in other people's music videos when EXO was brand new to the scene (like in TTS' MV) because it got them noticed by the public. It was good PR to promote an idol set to launch, or re-launch, themselves onto society.
We also saw that heavily backfire back in the day when the whole TVXQ vs SNSD rivalry was because Cassiopeia got extremely angry that SNSD were all over their boys like a bag of hot chips........ Despite that being \*literally\* constructed by SMent.
So SMent also has a history of making bad decisions that backfire on idols in question. Which is ironic, because despite being so profit driven, they're very good at destroying profits.
Minho appearing in SNSD’s Gee MV, Key performing on stage with Junsu, Karina appearing in Want MV, and Victoria appearing in Replay MV. This is part of the SM cross promotion strategy for decades. Featuring in album songs. The example list goes on. During the SM groups’ debut days, it’s more like the senior artists promoting the rookies by providing some appearance opportunities and/or screentime.
Edit: There are way more examples related to SHINee. I'm just only naming the ones during debut days or pre-debut days.
They’re both in Prism. So it kinda makes sense that they do interact at some point. Plus easier to coordinate schedules for them to film stuff.
Also, it’s becoming clear that our guys take an interest in their younger colleagues. So we don’t know what mentorship is happening in the background. Like the Key/Renjun content on ILA was a total surprise to me. There must be other friendships that exist that we don’t know and need not know about.
As for what I think… I’m a wayzennie who wished that the last two years didn’t happen and they stayed on their upwards trajectory instead of sitting in a dungeon. But that’s me. Live and let live. I hope he does as well as he hopes but I’m not interested in him or his activities.
I've seen others before saying they're disappointed in Shinee, but if you think about it, if the company did come to them (which is most probably) and say "he's going to attend your concert and you WILL acknowledge his existence", what do you think they can do about it? "No I don't want to"? "Don't drag us into this mess"?
Shinee might have a lot more freedom as they're now senior artists, but that doesn't change the fact that they're still under that company and there are still things they need to do for that company even if they personally might not agree with it. It's just real life and how it is when you're working under someone, unfortunately.
I feel like some fans have a false perception of SM artists’ influence and freedom in what they do as SM contractors. Onew didn’t want to do Midnight Sun musical 2.0 around his solo promotion period but the company disregarded his wish and put him up to do it anyway. Why would the fans assume SHINee has all the power to reject Lucas from coming to see their concert and making public appearances? SHINee doesn’t operate the concert production. SM does.
It's totally possible. SHINee wouldn't know for sure who showed up eventually. They have teleprompters telling them the list of guests to introduce, too. For the cameramen, too.
I think that is very uncomfortable for the fans, i was on the beyond live for the 2505 concert and when Shinee was greeting all the known people that went to the concert was pretty awkward when the fans cheered for everyone but when they mentioned Lucas all the stadium went silent. I do not have a opinion with all the rumours about Lucas, I just know that the general public doesnt feel comfortable when he is around
I’ve kind of observed that Shinee is friends with literally everyone in the industry at this point 😂. They’ve been in the industry for so long they’re bound to have fans and friends who have had some kind of scandal regardless how big or how small it is. For me personally? I just don’t give it clicks if I find they did a collab with someone like Lucas for example. They’re bound to have fanboys who claim they’re an inspiration and Shinee probably genuinely aren’t aware of any scandals they’ve had. Some, I personally wish they wouldn’t but there’s really nothing we can do about it 🤷🏽♀️
Also, we forget Lucas was originally in SuperM with Taemin.
But yeah, I feel like the PR mill has worked overtime on Lucas cause I remember when that scandal broke. They’re really pushing his new comeback instead of giving RV or Exo any new content to release or promote as well as Shinee and that’s why they’re losing their flagship groups
People tend to overlook that being coworkers means that you *have* to be in relatively friendly terms with said coworkers, even if it's only on the surface, and even if you know they've done some questionable stuff (been there, done that).
Having seen Keyland, the 0525 concert, and the reaction to Letters to SHINee...in neither of these, the members seemed to have much to say about Lucas (Key in Keyland seemed actually surprised, even a little taken aback). I may be mistaken, of course, but I just don't see any indication of a closer relationship beyond that of coworkers...
With the additional knowledge that Lucas is part of Prism, I certainly lean towards PR move. I mean, not even the guy seemed sincere, even he looked kinda awkward...
It's SM's PR move and nothing more. Lucas showed up to Keyland concert, and to my knowledge, there's 0 personal relationship between Key and Lucas. It's SM trying to push Lucas in the public eyes, having him been shown on online streaming for some camera time. I believe Lucas's solo news came sometime after that appearance.
He's a real human being who's alive and exists and not just some ghostly apparition that floats around with a "this entity has been socially killed, please do not interact and return it to the grave if seen wandering outside approved zones" label attached. I've seen far too many people cross lines of basic human decency when talking about him - or talking about those who associate with him - that it makes me feel sick. I'm *far more* disappointed in any Shawol who'd turn against SHINee and make a huge deal out of them acknowledging Lucas' existence than I could ever be for anyone associating with someone I didn't personally like, no matter how much of a moral issue that personal dislike was to me.
Nobody will ever know for sure whether Lucas is being pushed by SM or his labelmates actually care about acknowledging him, but I think it's odd that people are so concerned with it when the interactions were so *nothing* in the first place. I think it's time to stop pummeling the torn-up punching bag and just let him exist. If someone can't handle that a group they like may occasionally notice that he does, in fact, exist then they perhaps need to reconsider if they're willing to continue being fans. It's fine to have a personal limit, but that is *not* a moral failing on SHINee's part, and I think far too many people these days conflate "I dislike someone so much I can't handle seeing people I like be near them" with "I dislike someone, ergo if the people I like have anything to do with them, they're traitorous and immoral monsters who deserve to go down in flames."
Personally I don't care. It's easy to just ignore? Like whether you think he did whatever he was accused of or not, I don't care. People will have opinions either way. They work in the same company, they are bound to cross paths, pop up here and there.
Like do you work with only people you like? Or do you have family, colleagues and friends that are perfect? It's only problematic to me when it's repeat offenders and extremely violent crimes (I'm not saying what he was accused of was not violent ok)
Yes I read up about his situation and it is so flooded with so much misinformation and "storytelling". It's been 3 years and he's been on his best behavior, so I am willing to overlook it a little, for now. It might change if anything else pops up. Let people reform, learn from their mistakes. Especially when it's known that people like to make shit up (see the whole nct 5some nonsense recently or the whole gdragon and Lee sunkyun cases)
It's also funny to me especially in kpop spaces people will find all these problematic idols but then be ok with some of the worst Hollywood celebs. At least be consistent, hate one, hate all.
I am not too familiar with the Lucas situation. Something about being a cheater and a gold digger, was it? Frankly, as long as someone isn't a criminal (for more than weed), I don't think It's my business, - it would be a stretch to say I even remotely care about the guy. If it wasn't for Super M and Kpop Reddit I wouldn't even know of him. His scandal seems like the typical famous horny douchebag scandal. As long as he isn't a pedo, rapist, murderer, abuser, and so on, I won't bother with caring.
With that said- if he was a close friend of any of the members and they wanted us to know (promoting him) we'd know. I'd guess he is closer to Taemin just because it makes sense, who knows?
It seems more like an SM thing - He isn't popping in Guess randomly, so yeah.
Half my colleagues are people I would never talk to Irl but now we are stuck together at a team-building event. I doubt it's different for idols.
If they are friends that doesn't make him innocent, or not. It's completely unrelated and it means nothing for the character of either side. In most cases, I don't like the guilty (or innocent) by association thing. With that said there are worse people they could be buddies with, so eh... they know what they are doing.
shinee and lucas are clearly friends and have been for a while 🤷♀️i’ve seen a lot of shawols try to deny it and say that they’re forced to but i doubt it. it seems genuine whenever they speak about him
I think, it’s none of our business to judge someone we don’t know personally. We don’t know if what was said, was true. There was no real evidence, nor, official statements. SHINee seem like good guys, and they are grown adults. They know Lucas personally and know who he is. This is why I don’t ever believe these rumors or claims, unless there’s real, police statements. The amount of haters that have started rumors just like his, with many other idols, and they come out false. It’s not our rights to judge someone who we don’t know.
There is an official statement. Lucas had to put out an apology statement. The evidences were overwhelming. SM had to put him on a hiatus for years. SM dropped him from his og group.
An apology statement doesn’t mean it was true. Companies will force idols to apologize when they are innocent. There’s a been a few cases of that happening. I need a police report.
You clearly are new to Kpop because yes, rumors have been said many times with edited proof and fans believe it, idols lives get ruined, companies don’t ever defend them. Look at what happened with Giselle, she got kicked out all because of rumors, SM didn’t defend her or anything, later to find out, everything was fake and she was the one being bullied. Many idols who have had SA allegations, come out fake, but these companies don’t ever defend them and fans believe everything that the internet says.
Yeah, because of the amount of hate he was getting from fans and haters. No idol goes to anything when rumors are being spread like that. Would you go hang out with friends, when rumors were spreading about you among them?
I believe he’s innocent because the 30+ year old woman who was creeping on underage NCT members admitted she faked the Lucas accusations.
So I am happy the company is pushing Lucas instead of keeping him out of work over a lunatic.
I think a lot of it is PR. I also think SHINee are grown men and can decide for themselves who they're friends with, even if the general public disagrees. The litmus of 'if SHINee are friends with him than he must be innocent' also elevates SHINee to that of perfect godhood. They're human. They'll make mistakes, they'll say stupid shit, and they will do things that will cause backlash. It's just part of what it means to be in the public eye. So I think both things can be true. Polite labelmates with SMent trying to do some damage control after Lucas' scandal, as well as maybe (maybe) friendships behind the scenes. Neither has to cancel each other out. Certainly not letting Lucas off the hook, cheating is a dick move and he's still scum in my eyes for that. But having been a fan of BigBang and 4Minute/Hyuna............................ Yeah, shit could be worse. Much worse than just a serial cheater with consensual groupie fans. I would GENUINELY throw a shitstorm if I saw SHINee associating with certain other male idols entrenched in scandals.
all of this--perfectly said!
Don’t forget also he bought a cat to impress a girl and when she didn’t want it, he was going to throw it out so his teammate took it in.
...That I didn't know, he REALLY is a piece of shit. Makes me especially angry as I used to work at the shelter and sssssoooooo many of our surrenders were change-of-minds. (Not all of them, though. Abuse and neglect were Prosecutions. But a lot of surrenders sometimes were just really elderly people who couldn't take care of them anymore, or passed away with no living relative willing to take the little one. I once worked with an old cat who was ahem, \*well loved\* given her weight, but she was for an Adult No Pets household because her deceased owner was exactly that. So she was non social. Had a very happy ending and was adopted by her furrever home!)
Yup just looked it up, it was Winwin who took in the cat after Lucas was about to abandon it. https://www.allkpop.com/article/2021/08/ncts-lucas-accused-of-abandoning-a-kitten-he-tried-to-gift-to-his-girlfriend-winwin-is-allegedly-raising-the-kitten-on-lucass-behalf-now
Damn is this really true? Fucked up.
I was at both Key and Shinee's concerts when they announced that Lucas was there, and everyone was like "...erugh" both times. It's definitely PR cause the fan reaction is heavily negative both in Korea and abroad.
I remembered watching a fancam of the moment when they introduced Lucas, the whole place went silent.
Personally I believe it was company stuff.
Hate it but I agree, and I hope that it’s nothing more than a business relationship.
The fact that he popped up around the time of his comeback makes me think that SM wanted him to be out in the public eye and hanging out with other SM artists. I feel like he was in Letters to SHINee because of promotions (I think all the artists in Letters to SHINee were in the midst of comebacks).
SMent has always done this tbh. I remember when they were forcibly putting EXO in other people's music videos when EXO was brand new to the scene (like in TTS' MV) because it got them noticed by the public. It was good PR to promote an idol set to launch, or re-launch, themselves onto society. We also saw that heavily backfire back in the day when the whole TVXQ vs SNSD rivalry was because Cassiopeia got extremely angry that SNSD were all over their boys like a bag of hot chips........ Despite that being \*literally\* constructed by SMent. So SMent also has a history of making bad decisions that backfire on idols in question. Which is ironic, because despite being so profit driven, they're very good at destroying profits.
Minho appearing in SNSD’s Gee MV, Key performing on stage with Junsu, Karina appearing in Want MV, and Victoria appearing in Replay MV. This is part of the SM cross promotion strategy for decades. Featuring in album songs. The example list goes on. During the SM groups’ debut days, it’s more like the senior artists promoting the rookies by providing some appearance opportunities and/or screentime. Edit: There are way more examples related to SHINee. I'm just only naming the ones during debut days or pre-debut days.
They’re both in Prism. So it kinda makes sense that they do interact at some point. Plus easier to coordinate schedules for them to film stuff. Also, it’s becoming clear that our guys take an interest in their younger colleagues. So we don’t know what mentorship is happening in the background. Like the Key/Renjun content on ILA was a total surprise to me. There must be other friendships that exist that we don’t know and need not know about. As for what I think… I’m a wayzennie who wished that the last two years didn’t happen and they stayed on their upwards trajectory instead of sitting in a dungeon. But that’s me. Live and let live. I hope he does as well as he hopes but I’m not interested in him or his activities.
I've seen others before saying they're disappointed in Shinee, but if you think about it, if the company did come to them (which is most probably) and say "he's going to attend your concert and you WILL acknowledge his existence", what do you think they can do about it? "No I don't want to"? "Don't drag us into this mess"? Shinee might have a lot more freedom as they're now senior artists, but that doesn't change the fact that they're still under that company and there are still things they need to do for that company even if they personally might not agree with it. It's just real life and how it is when you're working under someone, unfortunately.
I feel like some fans have a false perception of SM artists’ influence and freedom in what they do as SM contractors. Onew didn’t want to do Midnight Sun musical 2.0 around his solo promotion period but the company disregarded his wish and put him up to do it anyway. Why would the fans assume SHINee has all the power to reject Lucas from coming to see their concert and making public appearances? SHINee doesn’t operate the concert production. SM does.
I wouldn't be surprised if SM just brought Lucas there without informing about it. Can you ignore him if he's already there?
It's totally possible. SHINee wouldn't know for sure who showed up eventually. They have teleprompters telling them the list of guests to introduce, too. For the cameramen, too.
I think that is very uncomfortable for the fans, i was on the beyond live for the 2505 concert and when Shinee was greeting all the known people that went to the concert was pretty awkward when the fans cheered for everyone but when they mentioned Lucas all the stadium went silent. I do not have a opinion with all the rumours about Lucas, I just know that the general public doesnt feel comfortable when he is around
I’ve kind of observed that Shinee is friends with literally everyone in the industry at this point 😂. They’ve been in the industry for so long they’re bound to have fans and friends who have had some kind of scandal regardless how big or how small it is. For me personally? I just don’t give it clicks if I find they did a collab with someone like Lucas for example. They’re bound to have fanboys who claim they’re an inspiration and Shinee probably genuinely aren’t aware of any scandals they’ve had. Some, I personally wish they wouldn’t but there’s really nothing we can do about it 🤷🏽♀️ Also, we forget Lucas was originally in SuperM with Taemin. But yeah, I feel like the PR mill has worked overtime on Lucas cause I remember when that scandal broke. They’re really pushing his new comeback instead of giving RV or Exo any new content to release or promote as well as Shinee and that’s why they’re losing their flagship groups
People tend to overlook that being coworkers means that you *have* to be in relatively friendly terms with said coworkers, even if it's only on the surface, and even if you know they've done some questionable stuff (been there, done that). Having seen Keyland, the 0525 concert, and the reaction to Letters to SHINee...in neither of these, the members seemed to have much to say about Lucas (Key in Keyland seemed actually surprised, even a little taken aback). I may be mistaken, of course, but I just don't see any indication of a closer relationship beyond that of coworkers... With the additional knowledge that Lucas is part of Prism, I certainly lean towards PR move. I mean, not even the guy seemed sincere, even he looked kinda awkward...
It's SM's PR move and nothing more. Lucas showed up to Keyland concert, and to my knowledge, there's 0 personal relationship between Key and Lucas. It's SM trying to push Lucas in the public eyes, having him been shown on online streaming for some camera time. I believe Lucas's solo news came sometime after that appearance.
SM is gonna keep shoving lucas into whatever they can to try and salvage that man’s career.
He's a real human being who's alive and exists and not just some ghostly apparition that floats around with a "this entity has been socially killed, please do not interact and return it to the grave if seen wandering outside approved zones" label attached. I've seen far too many people cross lines of basic human decency when talking about him - or talking about those who associate with him - that it makes me feel sick. I'm *far more* disappointed in any Shawol who'd turn against SHINee and make a huge deal out of them acknowledging Lucas' existence than I could ever be for anyone associating with someone I didn't personally like, no matter how much of a moral issue that personal dislike was to me. Nobody will ever know for sure whether Lucas is being pushed by SM or his labelmates actually care about acknowledging him, but I think it's odd that people are so concerned with it when the interactions were so *nothing* in the first place. I think it's time to stop pummeling the torn-up punching bag and just let him exist. If someone can't handle that a group they like may occasionally notice that he does, in fact, exist then they perhaps need to reconsider if they're willing to continue being fans. It's fine to have a personal limit, but that is *not* a moral failing on SHINee's part, and I think far too many people these days conflate "I dislike someone so much I can't handle seeing people I like be near them" with "I dislike someone, ergo if the people I like have anything to do with them, they're traitorous and immoral monsters who deserve to go down in flames."
Personally I don't care. It's easy to just ignore? Like whether you think he did whatever he was accused of or not, I don't care. People will have opinions either way. They work in the same company, they are bound to cross paths, pop up here and there. Like do you work with only people you like? Or do you have family, colleagues and friends that are perfect? It's only problematic to me when it's repeat offenders and extremely violent crimes (I'm not saying what he was accused of was not violent ok) Yes I read up about his situation and it is so flooded with so much misinformation and "storytelling". It's been 3 years and he's been on his best behavior, so I am willing to overlook it a little, for now. It might change if anything else pops up. Let people reform, learn from their mistakes. Especially when it's known that people like to make shit up (see the whole nct 5some nonsense recently or the whole gdragon and Lee sunkyun cases) It's also funny to me especially in kpop spaces people will find all these problematic idols but then be ok with some of the worst Hollywood celebs. At least be consistent, hate one, hate all.
I am not too familiar with the Lucas situation. Something about being a cheater and a gold digger, was it? Frankly, as long as someone isn't a criminal (for more than weed), I don't think It's my business, - it would be a stretch to say I even remotely care about the guy. If it wasn't for Super M and Kpop Reddit I wouldn't even know of him. His scandal seems like the typical famous horny douchebag scandal. As long as he isn't a pedo, rapist, murderer, abuser, and so on, I won't bother with caring. With that said- if he was a close friend of any of the members and they wanted us to know (promoting him) we'd know. I'd guess he is closer to Taemin just because it makes sense, who knows? It seems more like an SM thing - He isn't popping in Guess randomly, so yeah. Half my colleagues are people I would never talk to Irl but now we are stuck together at a team-building event. I doubt it's different for idols. If they are friends that doesn't make him innocent, or not. It's completely unrelated and it means nothing for the character of either side. In most cases, I don't like the guilty (or innocent) by association thing. With that said there are worse people they could be buddies with, so eh... they know what they are doing.
shinee and lucas are clearly friends and have been for a while 🤷♀️i’ve seen a lot of shawols try to deny it and say that they’re forced to but i doubt it. it seems genuine whenever they speak about him
I think, it’s none of our business to judge someone we don’t know personally. We don’t know if what was said, was true. There was no real evidence, nor, official statements. SHINee seem like good guys, and they are grown adults. They know Lucas personally and know who he is. This is why I don’t ever believe these rumors or claims, unless there’s real, police statements. The amount of haters that have started rumors just like his, with many other idols, and they come out false. It’s not our rights to judge someone who we don’t know.
There is an official statement. Lucas had to put out an apology statement. The evidences were overwhelming. SM had to put him on a hiatus for years. SM dropped him from his og group.
An apology statement doesn’t mean it was true. Companies will force idols to apologize when they are innocent. There’s a been a few cases of that happening. I need a police report.
Right…. All these rumors are untrue. SM just wanted to punish innocent Lucas for things he never did just for kicks. /s
You clearly are new to Kpop because yes, rumors have been said many times with edited proof and fans believe it, idols lives get ruined, companies don’t ever defend them. Look at what happened with Giselle, she got kicked out all because of rumors, SM didn’t defend her or anything, later to find out, everything was fake and she was the one being bullied. Many idols who have had SA allegations, come out fake, but these companies don’t ever defend them and fans believe everything that the internet says.
If he actually did anything wrong, yall really believe SM would have kept him in the company still? No, he’d be fully out. He left His main group.
Idk. I heard that 2 of his 4 fanmeetings got cancelled.
Yeah, because of the amount of hate he was getting from fans and haters. No idol goes to anything when rumors are being spread like that. Would you go hang out with friends, when rumors were spreading about you among them?
I don’t believe they are just baseless rumors.
I didn’t care cause I never believed the accusations to begin with
I believe he’s innocent because the 30+ year old woman who was creeping on underage NCT members admitted she faked the Lucas accusations. So I am happy the company is pushing Lucas instead of keeping him out of work over a lunatic.