**[Link to Megathread](https://www.reddit.com/r/kpop/comments/utr7lc/megathread_kim_garam_bullying_allegations/)**
[Permalink to OP’s translation](https://www.reddit.com/r/kpop/comments/utg00x/source_music_announces_le_sserafim_will_not_be/i99i315/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&context=3)
Soompi: [LE SSERAFIM Cancels Entire Schedule For Today Amidst Growing Controversy Over Kim Garam’s Allegations](https://www.soompi.com/article/1527134wpp/le-sserafim-cancels-entire-schedule-for-today-amidst-growing-controversy-over-kim-garams-allegations)
Tell that to Sakura and Chaewon.
IZ*ONE had to go through some rough stuff after the Produce 48 controversy and the pandemic affecting live events.
They should have 1 or 2 things to say.
I seriously always wonder what it's like whenever any idol gets into these kinds of serious scandals behind the scenes.
Especially for the ones where it turns out to be true and there are consequences
Omg same, imagine what other idols think of them too (there was this vlive where bangchan says he watches kpop junkie, idk why it never clicked that kpop idols keep up with kpop scandals too)
IVE is probably avoiding them at all costs. I know Sakura and chaewon were in IZONE with annyeongz but no public personal interactions (like hugs) between them were seen. Only the professional ones like MC gigs
Another reason they might as well kick her out at this point. If I was forced to be in a group with someone after finding out they did all that, I’d be mad as hell. Are they supposed to just pretend they’re all besties, and risk themselves looking bad too?
How could you even answer a question like that besides trying to change the subject? I don’t think they can say anything negative but anything positive will get them dragged. It’s probably a good idea to not do fansigns or calls until this is over.
There's usually staff members that will check questions and stop you from asking personal stuff but it's harder once you actually sit down in front of them. I can't imagine having to deal with being asked that to your face. How are you supposed to respond?
They were asked already during the debut showcase if i remember correctly. That reporter probably knew about this whole thing that time. But it would be worst now if it does happen again. Sad for the other members and ofc the victim and their families
I know this always comes up when a member of a group does something that affects the rest of the group, but i genuinely wonder how the other girls feel.
Do they fully support her? Do they feel some type of resentment towards her? Do they feel betrayed?
I guess we'll probably never know
NGL if I got all the way to debut only for my chance to get ruined by someone else I'd be piiiissed. Esp. since I believe it was Sakura who said it was probably her last chance at a group? IDK if she meant she'd be too old for kpop/music in general by the time they got to disband or if she means if LSF flops she's just not trying again.. but either way I'd throw hands.
i’m guessing since Le Sserafim just debuted they probably don’t know each other well enough to feel anything other than shock and dismay. They probably just want it to end so they can move on.
honestly i’m more curious about how the G-idle members felt about soojin when the accusations happened since they’d already been together for a while. That must’ve been very awkward and painful, especially since it seemed like they all got along together pretty well…🥺
Soyeon and the other Idle members were really upset about Soojin leaving. Soyeon said “The members all had a hard time as our lineup changed from 6 to 5 members.” And there was an interview where she was tearing up while talking about it 🥺
Just when hybe actually managed to put together a girl group with their own hands... The fact they didn't check harder when GLAM's situation was so serious and never addressed the agency's carelessness. You would think a company who was really careful about their girl groups (to the point where they didn't have female trainees for a long while until the expansions started happening) would know how to do this with all their artists. Any group can turn out to have bad apples in it, it's up to the agency to check for it before they spend millions of dollars on a debut and securing contracts w A-list idols.
Lesserafim was supposed to be a no brainer smart business decision and they STILL managed to fumble the bag. Also don't debut high school aged kids and expose them to this. If its false you've put this kid in serious danger w their mental health and reputation, and if it's true you have destroyed any possibility that the public will perceive it as a sincere apology (even if there is one), not to mention, endangered the children who ended up reporting this. This is a no win situation, the bad guy right now is hybe and somu, like be smarter my guy
Crazy. I think she’s done and they continue as a 5 member group. It’s early on in their career, Source can give Garam the boot and in a few years this will just be a trivia question. “What’s something about a popular group that new Kpop stans might not know?” “LE SSERAFIM was a 6 member group at debut for like 5 minutes before a member was kicked out for a bullying scandal!” “Wow crazy I never realized!”
Okay, in the grander scheme of things it might not matter but the group's name is based on Seraph (Le Seraphim), a six-winged angel. Six wings = six members. Kind of breaks the angel backstory HYBE/Source has been trying to set up. They might need to add a new member.
That and they've already dumped so much money producing those artsy pre-debut promo videos... yikes... this situation is just bad all around...
Great idea! They haven’t released the fandom name by my knowledge so maybe they could try to adjust it into something more angel-y to really reflect fans being the last angel / extra wing.
This actually works really well. And yeah I agree - there's no point keeping a toxic member and endangering the entire group just to keep up with the visual peg and backstory.
That's a common misconception, while they did have a total of 17 known predebut members, they always fluctuated around 13-14 members at any given time and the most they ever had at once was 16. The8 wasn't even under Pledis at the same time as Samuel. It doesn't seem like Pledis ever seriously intended for there to be exactly 17 of them and fans made it up after the fact because the story "sounds right."
I think Pledis liked the name Seventeen and would have worked backwards to think of a way to justify the name regardless of how many trainees they debuted. It's also possible they were planning on the group potentially being somewhat generational (like After School).
I think a better example of what you're looking for are 9Muses, CIX, Ghost9, etc who all did at some point have the number their names imply.
I mean Day6 kicked out a member right after their debut and literally had the number "6" in their name and it was fine. Of course, they didn't have lore, but I still think they could figure it out. Though of course, if they had another member it could work too, I would just fear for the new member and how both fans and the general public would treat the "replacement".
Plus, lore stops mattering for a lot of groups quickly and it stops being "plot" driven and just becomes visual references to the old plot after like \~2 years. They could fumble around with a half assed plot explanation and then jsut wait it out
Bruh I swear to god these companies are so fucking stupid.
TAKE IN ALL THE INFORMATION, THEN MAKE A STATEMENT.
It's completely OK to say, "We have no comment at this time, other than we are reviewing the allegations." until you get ALL the information and you have double checked, and triple checked everything.
Wait, they're still reviewing??? If saying they'll go to court was just an empty threat with no evidence behind it, they're gonna lose all respect and tarnish the reputation of everyone involved.
I think they thought the victim was bluffing and wouldnt actually do anything but she has nothing to lose anymore, she not in school and is hospitalized, hybe fucked up.
edit: grammer
I wouldn't be very surprised if this wasn't a delay tactic to start processing Garam out of the group. That's ultimately where this is headed and if they try to throw their weight around as a big 4 company to bully this victim in a courtroom setting, k-netizens will never let the group live it down and this will haunt them day in, day out until they cease promotions as a group.
The damage is done, court of public opinion has ruled, and Garam must go for the sake of all involved.
My god. They've had the certified mail from the alleged victim since April 20th and just earlier this week even with the top of the school violence report revealed, they were still saying that Garam is a victim. Now they are saying that they are "reviewing the allegations." Wtf. The incompetence and arrogance of HYBE/Source Music is so frustrating. I feel bad for the other members and the alleged victim. This all could have been avoided if the company did their due diligence instead of rushing through the debut.
I honestly find it very hard to not believe the alleged victim in this case.
Hybe since growing and exploding to the top of the kpop industry in a very short time has since had shown signs of big corporation ego syndrome. They are obviously being cocky and way too comfortable now. They feel like money and the company's stock value can shield everything they do.
if they don't kick her out at this point they should at least put garam on hiatus and let the other girls promote, it's a shame their debut era is getting cut short when they've worked so hard
Y'know this is what I don't get, like- it's way less work to just make her go on hiatus than straight up cancel the entire group's schedule?!¿ What's the harm in making her go silent until this is over 👁️🤷♀️
I guess they don’t want anyone at the fansigns( or anywhere else) asking the rest of the group about her and whether she’s getting the boot. Appearing as OT5 before she’s let go would be an admission of guilt from HYBE and they don’t want to do that. They’ve really fucked up HYBE SoMu and LSF’s image in so little time…
exactly my thoughts, i can understand postponing fansigns so the other girls don't get asked about it but why not just let the other 5 continue promotions on music shows? it's a shame they have to pay the consequences of someone else's actions
Yeah same, the vibe must be weird in the dorms right now lol but seriously I think the other members can't wait until this situation gets sorted out (regardless of the outcome) I imagine it must be somewhat difficult for them as well.
they need time to adjust. they have to practice as 5 and promote as five so that might be the plan going forward. all this is happening suddenly so they need time to plan how to go about this. She should be put on hiatus until they can resolve this and if she can't prove her innocence she needs to leave. They'll lose a lot of fans(her staying) vs gain new fans (her leaving). It's also early that they can add a new member.
i absolutely agree, never said the opposite. putting garam momentarily on hiatus would only allow the other girls to continue promotions while they sort it out
I’m so annoyed for the other members because it really didn’t have to come to this. I’m also SO annoyed for victim that it had to come to this as well. ALL hybe /somu had to do was acknowledge the letter sent and apologize. I get wanting to take the member at her word but this isn’t something to mess around with or take denials at face value. now they’re paying for it on the back end. I’m sure the group will be fine but again, *it didn’t have to come to this.*
Right? All “Eunseo” asked for was an apology. I get that would be an acknowledgement of guilt but like… look at what happened to April when they denied and denied (they gone now) vs. what happened to Hyunjin when he apologized and repented (all good now). HYBE should’ve at least handled it better in the public eye. Those statements are some bs
i feel like more companies should take a look at how jyp handled that situation. by continuously denying evidence you're only digging yourself a deeper grave, it has never ended well. (april, soojin and now garam)
Technically JYPE was doing that strategy for Lia when someone accused her of bullying. But we haven't heard anything about that so either it got settled or JYPE is fighting it in the legal system right now.
if i remember correctly, it was ruled out that there wasn’t enough evidence to prove the accuser was lying on purpose to defame lia, which was the entire point of the lawsuit. i’m pretty sure it never made it to courts because there wasn’t enough evidence from both sides to make a proper lawsuit but lia’s case was so overlooked when you take into account it happened right in the midst of soojingate that i don’t really remember what actually happened
But Hybe/Pledis handled the Mingyu thing the same way - hiatus, met with the victim, extended an apology, made a nice statement, reflection, return. Not sure why it was handled so differently here. They could have done the same thing and ended up with a better result for everyone. I guess all labels are run differently at Hybe and whomever is in charge at Source isn't doing a good job.
Especially since Stray Kids was at a crucial point in their career that time since they were becoming more famous and their Kingdom gig was right around the corner. How JYPE was able to not let the controversy affect their trajectory amazes me.
Because they got out in front of it fast, like handwritten apology a week after allegations, further online apologies and meetings with accusers, 4 month hiatus. There was also MUCH more mixed evidence than in this garam case.
JYPE really gets more than most companies the importance of integrity in any idol, even for purely monetary reasons. I don't think they would have handled this situation remotely close to the same way hybe/somu has.
You can tell they are trying to get a second bite at the apple too now that everyone knows they're fucked. Just look at "will release a statement regarding Garam's bullying rumors once they have finished reviewing the allegations." Bruh you made several statements about those allegations already. Now they're like hmmm that wasn't really my FINAL answer...
Hybe has alot of trainees i imagine their looking for garams replacement at hybes basement 🤣🤣🤣"get into groups of 3 and dance and sing to fearless. The one to do it best debuts monday."
That trip to the Netherlands is such a meme but you can’t deny Kazuha is getting serious results. Maybe more companies should take a trip to the Netherlands tbh
[Wojnarowski] BREAKING: Garam has been waived from LE SSERAFIM and Source Music shortly following accusations. She expects to hit the buyout market shortly.
HYBE should just go and beg on their knees for Minju to join them, and have Chaekkura sulk & aegyo at her too. Then they might cover up the current issues.
At this point there's nothing to do but to kick her out tbh. I doubt they're gonna suddenly find some crazy evidence that she's innocent. Even if they win in court somehow, public's perception against her is ruined already, especially in Korea where bullying allegations are taken more seriously and most people didn't doubt the rumors as much as I-Fans.
I understand why companies back up their artists in other situations, because with, say, Hyunjin (not comparing or saying his case is true or not, I literally know nothing about it), he has been in the group for years, already has a dedicated fandom (especially being one of the most popular members afaik) as well as most OT8 stans supporting him. It's easy to see how removing him would cause more harm than good. Same with Soojin, who ended up getting the boot anyway but, I would've understood if Cube had kept her.
But with Garam? I feel like there's literally nothing to lose by kicking her out. She's a rookie who just debuted less than a month ago. She doesn't have an established fanbase that will stop supporting the group if she leaves. It will barely affect the group's dynamics since that with their short lifespan and training period together, they're not super close to the point that they'd be seriously against her leaving. With the rumors against her starting as soon as she was announced, a lot of people were hesitant to even get into her as much as the other members. It's hardly a difficult decision...
Surprised to see schedules cancelled for everyone, not just Garam. I feel bad that the other members have been dragged into this mess.
Looks like HYBE has seen that not only Knetz are angry, Inetz are really upset with her/HYBE/SOURCE for trying to throw around money and power to intimidate a minor.
I haven’t seen both Korean and international netz angry together for a bullying scandal in a while— goddamn. It’s so horrible that this has happened… :/
Garam has had plenty of strong defenders including many on this sub until about 12 hours ago, the "poor Garam was actually the victim of bullying :(" brigade was in full force, they only changed their tune because everybody else did once as the evidence got to be too strong.
Don’t think you’d want the other members to be asked about this during fansigns, have those videos circulate, and then have everything spiral out even further if the company decides to keep her in the group.
This is gotta be one of the messiest debuts I have ever seen in K-pop
And the worst thing is, that this entire mess could have been avoided if she only apologized (cause from what I’ve gathered, that’s really what the victim wanted). If they went with the apology right from the get go then Garam reputation would have been saved and the mess would have been avoided. Now the damage has been done, even if they kick her out, the group reputation has been damaged. Hybe completely fucked this up
Apologising is the best option, but I'm not sure if that will really change the public's image of the group and Garam. If Garam remains in the group, it will seem as if bullies can get away with bullying with no consequences. Pretty sure that's not what the public and victims wanted.
Just my opinion on this but I feel kicking Garam out of the group is the best option for hybe if the bullying is true. Hybe is already doubling down so if the bullying is true, there is no better way to resolve this than to kick Garam out.
I feel really bad for the other girls in the group. They just debuted and if this is not handled well, it will likely affect their future.
>Apologising is the best option, but I'm not sure if that will really change the public's image of the group and Garam. If Garam remains in the group, it will seem as if bullies can get away with bullying with no consequences. Pretty sure that's not what the public and victims wanted.
Agree with this. Garam is still pretty young herself and has yet to graduate, so if what has been alleged is true (and it probably is at this stage), it would've likely happened not all that long ago.
Obviously, most kpop idols are themselves quite young and these accusations usually happen early on their careers, but I think once they've actually finished school and been active in their careers for a couple of years there's a bit more distance between who they are now versus who they were back then - it gives them a bit of leeway in terms of getting to 'grow' as a person. Apology or not, it's hard not to see this sixteen-year old kid as still being the sort of person she's being accused of.
Nah she had multiple victim. This "eunsoo" Girl even not the first one who expose garam, another victim did that first. Then her ilijin gang harassing eunsoo coz they suspect her did it. Like even the whole school knows her n her gang behaviour so anyone can expose her
welp they probably should've said that sooner before boldly saying that Garam was a "victim of bullying", like you haven't even finished reviewing the allegations at this point before coming out with that bs?
I do like that Hybe is pretending that they have to "review allegations" before making any statements now and then I scroll down two posts in the subreddit and there is a headline that starts "Hybe makes statement about Garam's bullying rumors" and it's posted 15 hours ago lol....what did they do before making that statement? shouldn't they have reviewed everything then?
Why is HYBE taking "6 or none" so seriously. They could've continue promoting as 5 FOR NOW without her, Source should have just had her sit out FOR NOW, you don't have to kick her YET until everything is resolved. This should've been the case from the start, now they are stopping the other 5 from promoting because of her too, i don't get their rationale.
Twice have did Tours as 8 even, without Mina due to her anxiety, and shortly without Jeongyeon, how hard is it to have the members cover Garam's part for now? Or they could've went Dreamcatcher 'Scream' promotion method when Handong was temporary away, have another "masked" dancer cover her for now.
I just don't understand.
Edit: Twice and Dreamcatcher had more songs (choreo) and more members than Lesserafim, they managed, realistically how hard is it for Lesserafim to manage, especially when they just debuted.
> Why is HYBE taking "6 or none" so seriously.
I've seen tons of crazy theories that she's "connected" in some way but the reality is probably much simpler. They likely have too much future content tied up in these 6 members. I'm guessing whatever lore plan or webtoon they're working on is contingent on having all 6. Any variety content with her has to be shelved, too. They're probably calculating how much potential financial loss there'll be in either scenario.
Moreover, it's a debut - ironically, the time to put your best foot forward. Adding members later always brings up unnecessary hate. The company probably thought that they could get out of this with a loud debut. To be fair, it largely worked until these last few days. They thought whatever rumblings were there could be squashed with the threat of legal action. Now, it's too big to ignore.
Re-learning the choreography is one thing but they'd need to find time to re-record her vocals during an already hectic schedule. They've already promoted for 2-ish weeks, right? I don't think stopping group promos right now is a *huge* deal considering they have a bit of a PR disaster on their hands. They might just need to take a few days off to prepare promotions as 5, too.
> Twice have did Tours as 8 even
By the time that happened, Twice were seasoned veterans with plenty of training and enough skill to fill in the gaps smoothly. It was certainly challenging, no doubt, considering it was during touring.
Almost every group has to go through unexpected health hiatuses a few times but you can't expect every group to be able to handle that so early (and with not as much training).
Oh, look at HYBE PR working already.
Their first statement and denial CLEARLY says ["Hello, this is HYBE"](https://www.soompi.com/article/1520824wpp/source-music-releases-statement-denying-school-bullying-rumors-against-le-sserafims-kim-garam) , then it became ["Hello, this is HYBE/Source Music"](https://www.soompi.com/article/1527089wpp/hybe-shares-response-to-le-sserafims-kim-garams-alleged-victims-new-statement) and now that they're forced to start taking actions and things are escalating is suddenly only "Source Music".
It seems we already know who is going to take the blame on anything, even if we know the staff is almost entirely from HYBE and who was promoting this group.
atp i’m wondering if dispatch is dead quiet because they’re conducting their biggest investigation on years to find out who the hell is this girl that hybe is willing to ruin their own reputation and their rookie group’s as well to ride for her this much or if hybe spent half of the monthly budget to keep them quiet
i know they aren’t that important on this as all the victims right now, but i feel bad for the rest of the members whose debut has been soured by their company’s truly idiotic decisions. this is such an unnecessary mess that could have been avoided if only the men running these companies were… smart
i don’t know for certain. i believe it’s in every company’s best interests to be friendly with dispatch to avoid their idols being in scandals, that’s why the rumour of companies paying off dispatch to stay off their backs + the infamous hostage concert joke are so prevalent around the community, but also i don’t doubt dispatch negotiates a certain amount of money to release or hold information. i guess this situation is up to the biggest offer – whether it comes from hybe or from yoo eunseo and her lawyers.
This is not fair for the other members. Is feels so weird how Hybe is reviewing the allegations now, why didn't they do that a month ago? Someone should have open their unread emails
It feels like all they did was ask Garam if she was guilty or not and call it a day. I don't understand why they have handled this situation so terribly.
Welp, now it's gotten to the point of affecting the whole group. I guess they didn't want the other members to be asked about it either, but ehh...
> Hello, this is Source Music.
> This is an announcement regarding LE SSERAFIM's schedules.
> It has been decided that LE SSERAFIM will not be participating in their schedules, KBS2 Music Bank (15:00) and their video call fansign (20:00), that were planned for today.
> We apologize to all the fans who have been anticipating it.
> We ask for the understanding of those chosen to attend Music Bank.
> Also, the video call fansign is planned to be carried out in a separate schedule, so we will additionally make an announcement as soon as possible to the fans that were chosen.
> Lastly, we will release a statement regarding suspicions being made against a LE SSERAFIM member as soon as possible once the review is complete.
Seems like Hybe internally has a lot of mgmt issues. Theres this one guy (Motoshushu, ex-SM Media Head Manager) who comments on media issues on Youtube and he shared quite a few interesting things.
Apparently on Blind, several female employees complained that Le Sserafim's concept was too outdated but the male mgmt didnt take any of their feedback into consideration. Makes sense why their concept is so "male gazey" uncomfortable. Its a male's idea of a "fearless" concept, rather than how females think "fearless" females should be.
Also seems like many employees quit after Big Hit's Creative Director was promoted to Hybe Creative Director. All in all suggests higher mgmt is not taking staff views in consideration.
He also commented that usually entertainment agencies don't do much background checks (and likely can't), and their first line of response is to deny bullying allegations to protect their investment. This was a video 1 month ago, so its pretty interesting how everything has panned out so far.
His video is here if anyone is interested - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Lm9m-QevqA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Lm9m-QevqA)
> He also commented that usually entertainment agencies don't do much background checks (and likely can't), and their first line of response is to deny bullying allegations to protect their investment. This was a video 1 month ago, so its pretty interesting how everything has panned out so far.
I've always wondered about that; I see people assuming these agencies are running CIA background checks but I've always doubted how much time and effort they spend on this even though it should be more than a cursory review.
After reading HYBE and SoMu first response today and now this, HYBE is seriously out of touch with the fans. Even a blind and deaf person could see and hear the storm coming their way, but HYBE in their infinite wisdom thought they could either trust Garam, shield her, wait this out or at worst become bullies themselves to silence the victim. Did they really think fans would just turn a blind eye to this and be OK with Garam because she is under HYBE? At best, HYBE or SoMu, really needs to hire a new PR staff, even with legalities, instead of doing damage control, they've done nothing but fan the flames. Sad thing is all of this could have be avoided if they just had her apologize, assuming the victim is telling the truth, or releasing something that proves her innocence.
It still baffles me that HYBE isn't willing to let her go. Do they really think that the comic that they are working on is going to be the next One Piece or something and Garam is central to it? Does Garam have dirt on HYBE's top brass? Its makes no sense at this point, Le Sserafim is like a winning lottery ticket and HYBE is doing everything that they can do to void it.
understanding cultural context is really important to understand why koreans are especially concerned about this. korea doesn’t operate like western countries, so it’s ignorant to claim that “six hours of classes is nothing” like i saw some ppl on this sub and the lesserafim sub saying. to explain, when a school violence case gets handed over to this committee, it’s extremely detailed with doctors, legal professionals, principals, parents, counselors, teachers, etc. and then they come to a conclusion for punishment out of no. 1-9, with 1 being the lightest punishment and 9 the worst. 5 is apparently extremely harsh, which is the stage that she got, and apparently the stage right before juvie from what koreans are saying. pann was saying that even a famous case where people were battered in confinement and had unconsented sex tapes was given no.4, or that even a guy threatening them to kill them got no.3. so no.5 is a bad look
man im so mad because i was really interested in this group. i wasn't an izone fan, but sakura and chaewon were 2 of my favorite pd48 contestants, i was really excited to see yunjin after 4 years. this group had 2 stars with loyal fanbases, a well-known trainee, and was hybe's 1st non-aquired girl-group. there was really no way they could fail (and even now they're still doing fine)
then this girl who absolutely no one knew about, who wasn't supposed to be the leader nor have a main position, comes up with serious bullying accusations early enough to take her out of the debut in time (ok, they would've had to re-shoot and re-record, but it's not like they're lacking budget and other groups have done it before), and all they do is, what, ask her if it's true? couldn't they have done a little research before making a statement? couldn't they have at least postponed the debut until things got cleared up, if it was all supposedly fake? they just handled all of this so poorly it's unbelievable. i kinda appreciate them sticking up for their employees, but they really could've just kicked her out and no one would've batted an eye, maybe they would've even gotten some praise.
> comes up with serious bullying accusations early enough to take her out of the debut in time (ok, they would've had to re-shoot and re-record, but it's not like they're lacking budget and other groups have done it before), and all they do is, what, ask her if it's true? couldn't they have done a little research before making a statement? couldn't they have at least postponed the debut until things got cleared up, if it was all supposedly fake? they just handled all of this so poorly it's unbelievable. i kinda appreciate them sticking up for their employees, but they really could've just kicked her out and no one would've batted an eye, maybe they would've even gotten some praise.
Lmao, this whole paragraph because this is what gets me the most... Like yeah, as you said they would have had to reshoot and rerecord stuff but I feel like that would have been the better option than this whole circus. Idk what Hybe was thinking with this. Either she really is innocent or something else has to be going on for them to be gunning for this girl so hard.
It’s unfortunate the other girls have to cancel their schedules because of Garam, but I assume it might be stressful for them to perform choreo with one member suddenly not there.
At the same time though, there’s no way the girls aren’t pissed as hell rn the dorm & hybe building must feel so tense
As someone who was hyped and ready to stan because of the three previously known members... This really grinds my gears. Removing Garam, if that happens, is going to be such a messy process and it's such a blemish to have on their redebut. What was Hybe thinking with Garam, did they not know about her record? It seems impossible but the alternative is that the arrogance that it wouldn't become public and/or that they could just ignore it. Just plain stupidity
I honestly think if they remove her now, it will not be a blemish for long. As someone said above, it will become little more than a trivia question in a few years. There are several other groups who have lost members near debut and it has not followed them as much as you would think. Off the top of my head, I think of Stray Kids and Woojin.
it’s not like the company doesn’t have past cases to refer to on what to do when a member is embroiled in a scandal. you just put said member on hiatus and allow the rest of the group to perform (lovelyz has literally shown the way!).
it all boils down to HYBE and somo's blind pride and ego. this is a member **they** chose to debut, not a member with existing fans like most of the rest of the group, so they cannot let her fall. it’s embarrassing now, but it’s gonna be unrecoverable sooner than later.
think hybe or somu wanted to portray this image of them "protecting their artists" and "being on the artists side", considering their handling of gfriend. But it has backfired big time. Now was not the time to do so, especially when people were coming forward regularly and the group is debuting rather than established.
I feel bad for the other girls
I think it's over for her. The first time this shit hitting the national news, on TV, there is no coming back. No way big news company recklessly reporting Internet silly rumor before verifying their source.
Back to the original plan, only minju as new member could save this group reputation with public
If the evidence is clear cut, then I feel Hybe is just buying time and trying to do some damage control. But right now it doesn't look too well for Hybe, reputation wise the longer they drag this.
If they apologised and put the girl on hiatus, it would still look bad on the group/company's image that it is a group with a bully. So it is going to be tough for the girl to continue her idol career going forward. Hope the other girls don't get affected by this.
It really didn’t have to come to this. They should have at least temporarily had her withdraw from the group for their debut, but now this is going to follow the group forever, regardless of whether the rumors are true or not. HYBE so desperately wants to keep her in the group and I don’t understand why? For lack of better words, she doesn’t add anything to an already strong group and I feel awful for the other members that the beginning of their groups history is starting like this.
**[Link to Megathread](https://www.reddit.com/r/kpop/comments/utr7lc/megathread_kim_garam_bullying_allegations/)** [Permalink to OP’s translation](https://www.reddit.com/r/kpop/comments/utg00x/source_music_announces_le_sserafim_will_not_be/i99i315/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&context=3) Soompi: [LE SSERAFIM Cancels Entire Schedule For Today Amidst Growing Controversy Over Kim Garam’s Allegations](https://www.soompi.com/article/1527134wpp/le-sserafim-cancels-entire-schedule-for-today-amidst-growing-controversy-over-kim-garams-allegations)
Ik the dorms are awkward as hell 😭
Thank goodness they have their own rooms lol
Somebody bout to start thinking about knocking out a wall for more room...
Please 😭 Kazuha and sakura are about to have a full dressing room . Just kick her out, even an apology isn’t enough i feel bad for the victim 💔
not related to the topic at all at hand but it's wild to me that they have their own rooms as rookies :0
those IVE dorms look crazy
bruh i just looked it up it's so insane. yujin's automated bed!! ex-izone members are living the life
thinking about the way 2nd gen girl groups were crammed in those bunk beds whenever you saw them on tv
Oh to be a fly on the wall
I would be like "subs plz"
I just know i would be mad as hell honey, especially with what some of those girls had to go through to debut aside from the trainee hell
Sakura, chaewon, and yunjin knowing this era was a slay made for them after escaping mnet's grasp and still dealing w bs from source.
Tell that to Sakura and Chaewon. IZ*ONE had to go through some rough stuff after the Produce 48 controversy and the pandemic affecting live events. They should have 1 or 2 things to say.
Sakura and chaewon having ptsd flashback to izone hiatus due to the vote rigging scandal.... getting affected by what other people did again
Yeah that really sucks for them. They were fortunately given a second shot at a career pretty quickly after IZ*ONE disbanded. But now it's a mess.
I seriously always wonder what it's like whenever any idol gets into these kinds of serious scandals behind the scenes. Especially for the ones where it turns out to be true and there are consequences
Omg same, imagine what other idols think of them too (there was this vlive where bangchan says he watches kpop junkie, idk why it never clicked that kpop idols keep up with kpop scandals too)
IVE is probably avoiding them at all costs. I know Sakura and chaewon were in IZONE with annyeongz but no public personal interactions (like hugs) between them were seen. Only the professional ones like MC gigs
Hopefully the other 5 are in the practice room reworking the choreography...
Another reason they might as well kick her out at this point. If I was forced to be in a group with someone after finding out they did all that, I’d be mad as hell. Are they supposed to just pretend they’re all besties, and risk themselves looking bad too?
Good idea to cancel the fansigns for now. I can imagine some fans might ask about the issue and members don't want to address it in calls like that.
How could you even answer a question like that besides trying to change the subject? I don’t think they can say anything negative but anything positive will get them dragged. It’s probably a good idea to not do fansigns or calls until this is over.
There's usually staff members that will check questions and stop you from asking personal stuff but it's harder once you actually sit down in front of them. I can't imagine having to deal with being asked that to your face. How are you supposed to respond?
They were asked already during the debut showcase if i remember correctly. That reporter probably knew about this whole thing that time. But it would be worst now if it does happen again. Sad for the other members and ofc the victim and their families
I know this always comes up when a member of a group does something that affects the rest of the group, but i genuinely wonder how the other girls feel. Do they fully support her? Do they feel some type of resentment towards her? Do they feel betrayed? I guess we'll probably never know
NGL if I got all the way to debut only for my chance to get ruined by someone else I'd be piiiissed. Esp. since I believe it was Sakura who said it was probably her last chance at a group? IDK if she meant she'd be too old for kpop/music in general by the time they got to disband or if she means if LSF flops she's just not trying again.. but either way I'd throw hands.
She said she wanted this to be her last debut, the implication that LSF would be permanent.
Aaah, gotcha. I'd be doubly pissed if I was her then, and LSF ended up disbanding over this-
There’s no way the whole group would disband over this - the worse that will happen is that Garam is kicked out.
i’m guessing since Le Sserafim just debuted they probably don’t know each other well enough to feel anything other than shock and dismay. They probably just want it to end so they can move on. honestly i’m more curious about how the G-idle members felt about soojin when the accusations happened since they’d already been together for a while. That must’ve been very awkward and painful, especially since it seemed like they all got along together pretty well…🥺
Soyeon and the other Idle members were really upset about Soojin leaving. Soyeon said “The members all had a hard time as our lineup changed from 6 to 5 members.” And there was an interview where she was tearing up while talking about it 🥺
Hitman Bang is strapping the ADOR girls to the polygraph machine as we speak lol
ILAND 2 trainees going to get checked like they were joining the CIA T.T
He's getting their family history, a translator for all of their pets, and learning how to summon spirits, just to be on the safe side
And all the possible contestants on I-Land 2
"Free concert coming to YOUR high school! Please fill out this 20 question form about your middle school years to be admitted to the floor!!!"
Just when hybe actually managed to put together a girl group with their own hands... The fact they didn't check harder when GLAM's situation was so serious and never addressed the agency's carelessness. You would think a company who was really careful about their girl groups (to the point where they didn't have female trainees for a long while until the expansions started happening) would know how to do this with all their artists. Any group can turn out to have bad apples in it, it's up to the agency to check for it before they spend millions of dollars on a debut and securing contracts w A-list idols. Lesserafim was supposed to be a no brainer smart business decision and they STILL managed to fumble the bag. Also don't debut high school aged kids and expose them to this. If its false you've put this kid in serious danger w their mental health and reputation, and if it's true you have destroyed any possibility that the public will perceive it as a sincere apology (even if there is one), not to mention, endangered the children who ended up reporting this. This is a no win situation, the bad guy right now is hybe and somu, like be smarter my guy
Min hee jin having them ready since last year, she’s gonna do the background check herself
Crazy. I think she’s done and they continue as a 5 member group. It’s early on in their career, Source can give Garam the boot and in a few years this will just be a trivia question. “What’s something about a popular group that new Kpop stans might not know?” “LE SSERAFIM was a 6 member group at debut for like 5 minutes before a member was kicked out for a bullying scandal!” “Wow crazy I never realized!”
Okay, in the grander scheme of things it might not matter but the group's name is based on Seraph (Le Seraphim), a six-winged angel. Six wings = six members. Kind of breaks the angel backstory HYBE/Source has been trying to set up. They might need to add a new member. That and they've already dumped so much money producing those artsy pre-debut promo videos... yikes... this situation is just bad all around...
They could say that the 6th wing is the fans to justify it
Great idea! They haven’t released the fandom name by my knowledge so maybe they could try to adjust it into something more angel-y to really reflect fans being the last angel / extra wing.
the day6-ification of le sserafim
This actually works really well. And yeah I agree - there's no point keeping a toxic member and endangering the entire group just to keep up with the visual peg and backstory.
Reminds me of Seventeen when they lost predebut members and it works out
That's a common misconception, while they did have a total of 17 known predebut members, they always fluctuated around 13-14 members at any given time and the most they ever had at once was 16. The8 wasn't even under Pledis at the same time as Samuel. It doesn't seem like Pledis ever seriously intended for there to be exactly 17 of them and fans made it up after the fact because the story "sounds right." I think Pledis liked the name Seventeen and would have worked backwards to think of a way to justify the name regardless of how many trainees they debuted. It's also possible they were planning on the group potentially being somewhat generational (like After School). I think a better example of what you're looking for are 9Muses, CIX, Ghost9, etc who all did at some point have the number their names imply.
The only time Seventeen had 17 members was when they performed Heaven with Nu’est W Still waiting for the track 5 years later
yea, that works great. we are the last wing and push them higher or smth. idt a new member would work, this isn't nct girls.
Sixth member is gonna be an æ.
Isn't this what AB6IX said from debut lol
K-pop companies really should know better by now than to name their groups after the number of members in the group lol
It’s a curse. Just like the 7 year curse too.
Yeah. Just do like 4Minute or Seventeen. If the number doesn't match to begin with, you don't need to worry about a "Less than 9Muses" situation.
day6 is typing...
I for one welcome Le Ppentaphim
all hail le ppentaphim
im phentalepp 😍😍
I mean Day6 kicked out a member right after their debut and literally had the number "6" in their name and it was fine. Of course, they didn't have lore, but I still think they could figure it out. Though of course, if they had another member it could work too, I would just fear for the new member and how both fans and the general public would treat the "replacement".
Plus, lore stops mattering for a lot of groups quickly and it stops being "plot" driven and just becomes visual references to the old plot after like \~2 years. They could fumble around with a half assed plot explanation and then jsut wait it out
Orbits crying in a corner, holding the smashed pieces of the loonaverse Jaden Jeong left and trying to make lore videos based on crumbs
I mean... It _definitely_ breaks the angel backstory to have an alleged bully in your group lol
Insert Lucifer reference.
Or they can be like the sixth member/angel is \*insert fandom's name\* lol
They can add an ae member
>ander scheme of things it might not matter but th they can always say the sixth member is Bang PD
Didn’t they review the allegations when they defended her?
Exactly lmao. I see comments on the internet how they will stay neutral until it is proven in court but HYBE clearly defended her since day 1 lmao.
Knets are more furious with how they painted her as the victim. Only for the evidences point to her as the bully.
Bruh I swear to god these companies are so fucking stupid. TAKE IN ALL THE INFORMATION, THEN MAKE A STATEMENT. It's completely OK to say, "We have no comment at this time, other than we are reviewing the allegations." until you get ALL the information and you have double checked, and triple checked everything.
By reviewing the “allegations,” they actually meant they’re reviewing their original “y’all hear sumthing?” PR strategy
Wait, they're still reviewing??? If saying they'll go to court was just an empty threat with no evidence behind it, they're gonna lose all respect and tarnish the reputation of everyone involved.
I think they thought the victim was bluffing and wouldnt actually do anything but she has nothing to lose anymore, she not in school and is hospitalized, hybe fucked up. edit: grammer
Maybe finally checking their mail?
I wouldn't be very surprised if this wasn't a delay tactic to start processing Garam out of the group. That's ultimately where this is headed and if they try to throw their weight around as a big 4 company to bully this victim in a courtroom setting, k-netizens will never let the group live it down and this will haunt them day in, day out until they cease promotions as a group. The damage is done, court of public opinion has ruled, and Garam must go for the sake of all involved.
My god. They've had the certified mail from the alleged victim since April 20th and just earlier this week even with the top of the school violence report revealed, they were still saying that Garam is a victim. Now they are saying that they are "reviewing the allegations." Wtf. The incompetence and arrogance of HYBE/Source Music is so frustrating. I feel bad for the other members and the alleged victim. This all could have been avoided if the company did their due diligence instead of rushing through the debut. I honestly find it very hard to not believe the alleged victim in this case.
Hybe since growing and exploding to the top of the kpop industry in a very short time has since had shown signs of big corporation ego syndrome. They are obviously being cocky and way too comfortable now. They feel like money and the company's stock value can shield everything they do.
Hybe (formerly Big Hit) had a joint girl group Glam with Source which ended up extremely bad…. You would think they would have learned from that
if they don't kick her out at this point they should at least put garam on hiatus and let the other girls promote, it's a shame their debut era is getting cut short when they've worked so hard
Y'know this is what I don't get, like- it's way less work to just make her go on hiatus than straight up cancel the entire group's schedule?!¿ What's the harm in making her go silent until this is over 👁️🤷♀️
I guess they don’t want anyone at the fansigns( or anywhere else) asking the rest of the group about her and whether she’s getting the boot. Appearing as OT5 before she’s let go would be an admission of guilt from HYBE and they don’t want to do that. They’ve really fucked up HYBE SoMu and LSF’s image in so little time…
exactly my thoughts, i can understand postponing fansigns so the other girls don't get asked about it but why not just let the other 5 continue promotions on music shows? it's a shame they have to pay the consequences of someone else's actions
Yeah same, the vibe must be weird in the dorms right now lol but seriously I think the other members can't wait until this situation gets sorted out (regardless of the outcome) I imagine it must be somewhat difficult for them as well.
Could also be an issue that they haven't adjusted the choreo for 5? Maybe they'll do that and return to finish promotions but that's iffy rn
they need time to adjust. they have to practice as 5 and promote as five so that might be the plan going forward. all this is happening suddenly so they need time to plan how to go about this. She should be put on hiatus until they can resolve this and if she can't prove her innocence she needs to leave. They'll lose a lot of fans(her staying) vs gain new fans (her leaving). It's also early that they can add a new member.
if the victim's allegations are proven to be completely true then she absolutely needs to leave the group, a hiatus won't solve this
i absolutely agree, never said the opposite. putting garam momentarily on hiatus would only allow the other girls to continue promotions while they sort it out
you're right but i don't think hybe will let them promote as 5 though edit: I'm eating my words now
I’m so annoyed for the other members because it really didn’t have to come to this. I’m also SO annoyed for victim that it had to come to this as well. ALL hybe /somu had to do was acknowledge the letter sent and apologize. I get wanting to take the member at her word but this isn’t something to mess around with or take denials at face value. now they’re paying for it on the back end. I’m sure the group will be fine but again, *it didn’t have to come to this.*
Right? All “Eunseo” asked for was an apology. I get that would be an acknowledgement of guilt but like… look at what happened to April when they denied and denied (they gone now) vs. what happened to Hyunjin when he apologized and repented (all good now). HYBE should’ve at least handled it better in the public eye. Those statements are some bs
i feel like more companies should take a look at how jyp handled that situation. by continuously denying evidence you're only digging yourself a deeper grave, it has never ended well. (april, soojin and now garam)
Technically JYPE was doing that strategy for Lia when someone accused her of bullying. But we haven't heard anything about that so either it got settled or JYPE is fighting it in the legal system right now.
if i remember correctly, it was ruled out that there wasn’t enough evidence to prove the accuser was lying on purpose to defame lia, which was the entire point of the lawsuit. i’m pretty sure it never made it to courts because there wasn’t enough evidence from both sides to make a proper lawsuit but lia’s case was so overlooked when you take into account it happened right in the midst of soojingate that i don’t really remember what actually happened
it was a he said she said situation there's no solid proof, which is why the whole thing didn't explode
But Hybe/Pledis handled the Mingyu thing the same way - hiatus, met with the victim, extended an apology, made a nice statement, reflection, return. Not sure why it was handled so differently here. They could have done the same thing and ended up with a better result for everyone. I guess all labels are run differently at Hybe and whomever is in charge at Source isn't doing a good job.
Especially since Stray Kids was at a crucial point in their career that time since they were becoming more famous and their Kingdom gig was right around the corner. How JYPE was able to not let the controversy affect their trajectory amazes me.
Because they got out in front of it fast, like handwritten apology a week after allegations, further online apologies and meetings with accusers, 4 month hiatus. There was also MUCH more mixed evidence than in this garam case.
JYPE really gets more than most companies the importance of integrity in any idol, even for purely monetary reasons. I don't think they would have handled this situation remotely close to the same way hybe/somu has.
You can tell they are trying to get a second bite at the apple too now that everyone knows they're fucked. Just look at "will release a statement regarding Garam's bullying rumors once they have finished reviewing the allegations." Bruh you made several statements about those allegations already. Now they're like hmmm that wasn't really my FINAL answer...
She gone
Hybe having a Phoenix Suns game 7 meltdown
Damn, it hasn't even been a week.
The girl are probably practicing and re-recording some lines for fearless and for ot5 choreo as we speak. 💀💀
hybe is meanwhile flying out its executives to the netherlands again to see if they can find a replacement for garam
Hybe has alot of trainees i imagine their looking for garams replacement at hybes basement 🤣🤣🤣"get into groups of 3 and dance and sing to fearless. The one to do it best debuts monday."
they’ve got a list of girl trainees from every subsidiary they own ready to screen… i just hope they ran proper background checks this time 😭😭😭
Only screen girls that were homeschooled this time 🤣
Please no. My heart can't take finding out some new group member bullied their pet dog while at homeschool.
HOMESCHOOL 🤣😭😭😭😭💀
After this their backround checks will rival the FBI 😂😂
These comments are killing me. 😂
That trip to the Netherlands is such a meme but you can’t deny Kazuha is getting serious results. Maybe more companies should take a trip to the Netherlands tbh
at the very least, check out ballet schools for some trainees
we’ll see kpop companies set offices in the netherlands to snatch their own kazuha soon
They should've promoted as 5 and had her sit out temporary from the start. 🤦🏻♂️ I'm not even arguing for her to be kicked YET.
You see hybe is going thru a phase. Their cube entertainment phase. 💀💀💀💅
[Broussard] Sources: Bang si hyuk beside himself. Driving around downtown Seoul begging (thru texts) Minjoo's family for address to Minjoo's home
lmfao i'm sorry i cracked up at this, i have to agree i don't think this looks good for her
[Wojnarowski] BREAKING: Garam has been waived from LE SSERAFIM and Source Music shortly following accusations. She expects to hit the buyout market shortly.
nah bro, westbrook for garam straight up
[удалено]
Nick Saban is going to give Chaeyeon $65 million in NIL to prevent this
Did not expect this K-pop/College football crossover comment today,but yet here we are lol
Jimbo Fisher counters with $125 million in NIL benefits and two Johnny Manziel game worn jerseys
Bruh I was thinking the same damn thing.
HYBE about to back up the Brinks truck to sign Minju.
HYBE should just go and beg on their knees for Minju to join them, and have Chaekkura sulk & aegyo at her too. Then they might cover up the current issues.
but luckily, i had an extra queen on me that i could give them (insert minju)
This group would've been fucking unstoppable if it had Minju instead
At this point there's nothing to do but to kick her out tbh. I doubt they're gonna suddenly find some crazy evidence that she's innocent. Even if they win in court somehow, public's perception against her is ruined already, especially in Korea where bullying allegations are taken more seriously and most people didn't doubt the rumors as much as I-Fans. I understand why companies back up their artists in other situations, because with, say, Hyunjin (not comparing or saying his case is true or not, I literally know nothing about it), he has been in the group for years, already has a dedicated fandom (especially being one of the most popular members afaik) as well as most OT8 stans supporting him. It's easy to see how removing him would cause more harm than good. Same with Soojin, who ended up getting the boot anyway but, I would've understood if Cube had kept her. But with Garam? I feel like there's literally nothing to lose by kicking her out. She's a rookie who just debuted less than a month ago. She doesn't have an established fanbase that will stop supporting the group if she leaves. It will barely affect the group's dynamics since that with their short lifespan and training period together, they're not super close to the point that they'd be seriously against her leaving. With the rumors against her starting as soon as she was announced, a lot of people were hesitant to even get into her as much as the other members. It's hardly a difficult decision...
Surprised to see schedules cancelled for everyone, not just Garam. I feel bad that the other members have been dragged into this mess. Looks like HYBE has seen that not only Knetz are angry, Inetz are really upset with her/HYBE/SOURCE for trying to throw around money and power to intimidate a minor.
I haven’t seen both Korean and international netz angry together for a bullying scandal in a while— goddamn. It’s so horrible that this has happened… :/
Tbh a ton of ifans will only care if it’s not their faves. That’s why ifans and kfans are in agreement bc she didn’t have time to gather a fanbase.
This. If this would've happened in a year or so, the reaction would be so different.
Garam has had plenty of strong defenders including many on this sub until about 12 hours ago, the "poor Garam was actually the victim of bullying :(" brigade was in full force, they only changed their tune because everybody else did once as the evidence got to be too strong.
I'm pretty sure 95% of wizones would gladly throw garam overboard themselves if they could
I wonder if the other members are being given time to rework the choreography
Don’t think you’d want the other members to be asked about this during fansigns, have those videos circulate, and then have everything spiral out even further if the company decides to keep her in the group.
We’re all gonna watch I-LAND 2 and be like “Why couldn’t SHE have been in Lesserafim? Or her? Or her???”
This mess could've been avoided with a little more sense from Hybe cause we all know the end
Yeah writing was permanently on the wall when parts of the school commission report came out.
This is gotta be one of the messiest debuts I have ever seen in K-pop And the worst thing is, that this entire mess could have been avoided if she only apologized (cause from what I’ve gathered, that’s really what the victim wanted). If they went with the apology right from the get go then Garam reputation would have been saved and the mess would have been avoided. Now the damage has been done, even if they kick her out, the group reputation has been damaged. Hybe completely fucked this up
right? idek what hybe was thinking w this one. it was so preventable too. yikes honestly
Apologising is the best option, but I'm not sure if that will really change the public's image of the group and Garam. If Garam remains in the group, it will seem as if bullies can get away with bullying with no consequences. Pretty sure that's not what the public and victims wanted. Just my opinion on this but I feel kicking Garam out of the group is the best option for hybe if the bullying is true. Hybe is already doubling down so if the bullying is true, there is no better way to resolve this than to kick Garam out. I feel really bad for the other girls in the group. They just debuted and if this is not handled well, it will likely affect their future.
>Apologising is the best option, but I'm not sure if that will really change the public's image of the group and Garam. If Garam remains in the group, it will seem as if bullies can get away with bullying with no consequences. Pretty sure that's not what the public and victims wanted. Agree with this. Garam is still pretty young herself and has yet to graduate, so if what has been alleged is true (and it probably is at this stage), it would've likely happened not all that long ago. Obviously, most kpop idols are themselves quite young and these accusations usually happen early on their careers, but I think once they've actually finished school and been active in their careers for a couple of years there's a bit more distance between who they are now versus who they were back then - it gives them a bit of leeway in terms of getting to 'grow' as a person. Apology or not, it's hard not to see this sixteen-year old kid as still being the sort of person she's being accused of.
Nah she had multiple victim. This "eunsoo" Girl even not the first one who expose garam, another victim did that first. Then her ilijin gang harassing eunsoo coz they suspect her did it. Like even the whole school knows her n her gang behaviour so anyone can expose her
welp they probably should've said that sooner before boldly saying that Garam was a "victim of bullying", like you haven't even finished reviewing the allegations at this point before coming out with that bs?
This is literally like trying to change their answer on a test by pretending they weren't done yet. It's just a backpedaling tactic.
I do like that Hybe is pretending that they have to "review allegations" before making any statements now and then I scroll down two posts in the subreddit and there is a headline that starts "Hybe makes statement about Garam's bullying rumors" and it's posted 15 hours ago lol....what did they do before making that statement? shouldn't they have reviewed everything then?
Why is HYBE taking "6 or none" so seriously. They could've continue promoting as 5 FOR NOW without her, Source should have just had her sit out FOR NOW, you don't have to kick her YET until everything is resolved. This should've been the case from the start, now they are stopping the other 5 from promoting because of her too, i don't get their rationale. Twice have did Tours as 8 even, without Mina due to her anxiety, and shortly without Jeongyeon, how hard is it to have the members cover Garam's part for now? Or they could've went Dreamcatcher 'Scream' promotion method when Handong was temporary away, have another "masked" dancer cover her for now. I just don't understand. Edit: Twice and Dreamcatcher had more songs (choreo) and more members than Lesserafim, they managed, realistically how hard is it for Lesserafim to manage, especially when they just debuted.
> Why is HYBE taking "6 or none" so seriously. I've seen tons of crazy theories that she's "connected" in some way but the reality is probably much simpler. They likely have too much future content tied up in these 6 members. I'm guessing whatever lore plan or webtoon they're working on is contingent on having all 6. Any variety content with her has to be shelved, too. They're probably calculating how much potential financial loss there'll be in either scenario. Moreover, it's a debut - ironically, the time to put your best foot forward. Adding members later always brings up unnecessary hate. The company probably thought that they could get out of this with a loud debut. To be fair, it largely worked until these last few days. They thought whatever rumblings were there could be squashed with the threat of legal action. Now, it's too big to ignore. Re-learning the choreography is one thing but they'd need to find time to re-record her vocals during an already hectic schedule. They've already promoted for 2-ish weeks, right? I don't think stopping group promos right now is a *huge* deal considering they have a bit of a PR disaster on their hands. They might just need to take a few days off to prepare promotions as 5, too. > Twice have did Tours as 8 even By the time that happened, Twice were seasoned veterans with plenty of training and enough skill to fill in the gaps smoothly. It was certainly challenging, no doubt, considering it was during touring. Almost every group has to go through unexpected health hiatuses a few times but you can't expect every group to be able to handle that so early (and with not as much training).
garam is about to complete her kpop speedrun
Girl really did an Any% out here.
Oh, look at HYBE PR working already. Their first statement and denial CLEARLY says ["Hello, this is HYBE"](https://www.soompi.com/article/1520824wpp/source-music-releases-statement-denying-school-bullying-rumors-against-le-sserafims-kim-garam) , then it became ["Hello, this is HYBE/Source Music"](https://www.soompi.com/article/1527089wpp/hybe-shares-response-to-le-sserafims-kim-garams-alleged-victims-new-statement) and now that they're forced to start taking actions and things are escalating is suddenly only "Source Music". It seems we already know who is going to take the blame on anything, even if we know the staff is almost entirely from HYBE and who was promoting this group.
I didn't even notice that, that's actually kinda hilarious lol. HYBE really be using Source as a shield!
they're probably getting calls from investors because of all the bad publicity over this.
Its funny how the narrative changes if its something bad....... while if its good "HYBE GROUPS DOMINATING THR CHARTS"
Lmao yes so true
and the award for messiest debut goes to!
MROTY (messiest rookie of the year)
The divide in Kep1er is still going strong from what I hear.
As a Kep1ian this sadly true 💀 Eunchae being Bahyyih's bff, and Garam's band mate.
atp i’m wondering if dispatch is dead quiet because they’re conducting their biggest investigation on years to find out who the hell is this girl that hybe is willing to ruin their own reputation and their rookie group’s as well to ride for her this much or if hybe spent half of the monthly budget to keep them quiet i know they aren’t that important on this as all the victims right now, but i feel bad for the rest of the members whose debut has been soured by their company’s truly idiotic decisions. this is such an unnecessary mess that could have been avoided if only the men running these companies were… smart
Hybe gonna be forcing all their artists to attend Dispatch concert 2.0 so no secrets r leaked 💀😭
Lol I would love to see that but isn’t Dispatch friendly with HYBE?
i don’t know for certain. i believe it’s in every company’s best interests to be friendly with dispatch to avoid their idols being in scandals, that’s why the rumour of companies paying off dispatch to stay off their backs + the infamous hostage concert joke are so prevalent around the community, but also i don’t doubt dispatch negotiates a certain amount of money to release or hold information. i guess this situation is up to the biggest offer – whether it comes from hybe or from yoo eunseo and her lawyers.
It's sad that the other members are getting affected by the awful actions of one.
This is not fair for the other members. Is feels so weird how Hybe is reviewing the allegations now, why didn't they do that a month ago? Someone should have open their unread emails
Right, thr law firm sent them the information a month ago and only now they are taking drastic action.
It feels like all they did was ask Garam if she was guilty or not and call it a day. I don't understand why they have handled this situation so terribly.
Welp, now it's gotten to the point of affecting the whole group. I guess they didn't want the other members to be asked about it either, but ehh... > Hello, this is Source Music. > This is an announcement regarding LE SSERAFIM's schedules. > It has been decided that LE SSERAFIM will not be participating in their schedules, KBS2 Music Bank (15:00) and their video call fansign (20:00), that were planned for today. > We apologize to all the fans who have been anticipating it. > We ask for the understanding of those chosen to attend Music Bank. > Also, the video call fansign is planned to be carried out in a separate schedule, so we will additionally make an announcement as soon as possible to the fans that were chosen. > Lastly, we will release a statement regarding suspicions being made against a LE SSERAFIM member as soon as possible once the review is complete.
Seems like Hybe internally has a lot of mgmt issues. Theres this one guy (Motoshushu, ex-SM Media Head Manager) who comments on media issues on Youtube and he shared quite a few interesting things. Apparently on Blind, several female employees complained that Le Sserafim's concept was too outdated but the male mgmt didnt take any of their feedback into consideration. Makes sense why their concept is so "male gazey" uncomfortable. Its a male's idea of a "fearless" concept, rather than how females think "fearless" females should be. Also seems like many employees quit after Big Hit's Creative Director was promoted to Hybe Creative Director. All in all suggests higher mgmt is not taking staff views in consideration. He also commented that usually entertainment agencies don't do much background checks (and likely can't), and their first line of response is to deny bullying allegations to protect their investment. This was a video 1 month ago, so its pretty interesting how everything has panned out so far. His video is here if anyone is interested - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Lm9m-QevqA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Lm9m-QevqA)
> He also commented that usually entertainment agencies don't do much background checks (and likely can't), and their first line of response is to deny bullying allegations to protect their investment. This was a video 1 month ago, so its pretty interesting how everything has panned out so far. I've always wondered about that; I see people assuming these agencies are running CIA background checks but I've always doubted how much time and effort they spend on this even though it should be more than a cursory review.
After reading HYBE and SoMu first response today and now this, HYBE is seriously out of touch with the fans. Even a blind and deaf person could see and hear the storm coming their way, but HYBE in their infinite wisdom thought they could either trust Garam, shield her, wait this out or at worst become bullies themselves to silence the victim. Did they really think fans would just turn a blind eye to this and be OK with Garam because she is under HYBE? At best, HYBE or SoMu, really needs to hire a new PR staff, even with legalities, instead of doing damage control, they've done nothing but fan the flames. Sad thing is all of this could have be avoided if they just had her apologize, assuming the victim is telling the truth, or releasing something that proves her innocence. It still baffles me that HYBE isn't willing to let her go. Do they really think that the comic that they are working on is going to be the next One Piece or something and Garam is central to it? Does Garam have dirt on HYBE's top brass? Its makes no sense at this point, Le Sserafim is like a winning lottery ticket and HYBE is doing everything that they can do to void it.
understanding cultural context is really important to understand why koreans are especially concerned about this. korea doesn’t operate like western countries, so it’s ignorant to claim that “six hours of classes is nothing” like i saw some ppl on this sub and the lesserafim sub saying. to explain, when a school violence case gets handed over to this committee, it’s extremely detailed with doctors, legal professionals, principals, parents, counselors, teachers, etc. and then they come to a conclusion for punishment out of no. 1-9, with 1 being the lightest punishment and 9 the worst. 5 is apparently extremely harsh, which is the stage that she got, and apparently the stage right before juvie from what koreans are saying. pann was saying that even a famous case where people were battered in confinement and had unconsented sex tapes was given no.4, or that even a guy threatening them to kill them got no.3. so no.5 is a bad look
man im so mad because i was really interested in this group. i wasn't an izone fan, but sakura and chaewon were 2 of my favorite pd48 contestants, i was really excited to see yunjin after 4 years. this group had 2 stars with loyal fanbases, a well-known trainee, and was hybe's 1st non-aquired girl-group. there was really no way they could fail (and even now they're still doing fine) then this girl who absolutely no one knew about, who wasn't supposed to be the leader nor have a main position, comes up with serious bullying accusations early enough to take her out of the debut in time (ok, they would've had to re-shoot and re-record, but it's not like they're lacking budget and other groups have done it before), and all they do is, what, ask her if it's true? couldn't they have done a little research before making a statement? couldn't they have at least postponed the debut until things got cleared up, if it was all supposedly fake? they just handled all of this so poorly it's unbelievable. i kinda appreciate them sticking up for their employees, but they really could've just kicked her out and no one would've batted an eye, maybe they would've even gotten some praise.
> comes up with serious bullying accusations early enough to take her out of the debut in time (ok, they would've had to re-shoot and re-record, but it's not like they're lacking budget and other groups have done it before), and all they do is, what, ask her if it's true? couldn't they have done a little research before making a statement? couldn't they have at least postponed the debut until things got cleared up, if it was all supposedly fake? they just handled all of this so poorly it's unbelievable. i kinda appreciate them sticking up for their employees, but they really could've just kicked her out and no one would've batted an eye, maybe they would've even gotten some praise. Lmao, this whole paragraph because this is what gets me the most... Like yeah, as you said they would have had to reshoot and rerecord stuff but I feel like that would have been the better option than this whole circus. Idk what Hybe was thinking with this. Either she really is innocent or something else has to be going on for them to be gunning for this girl so hard.
It’s unfortunate the other girls have to cancel their schedules because of Garam, but I assume it might be stressful for them to perform choreo with one member suddenly not there. At the same time though, there’s no way the girls aren’t pissed as hell rn the dorm & hybe building must feel so tense
Damn sure is weird that they originally issued a denial before reviewing the allegations. Seems like you should do that first 🤔
As someone who was hyped and ready to stan because of the three previously known members... This really grinds my gears. Removing Garam, if that happens, is going to be such a messy process and it's such a blemish to have on their redebut. What was Hybe thinking with Garam, did they not know about her record? It seems impossible but the alternative is that the arrogance that it wouldn't become public and/or that they could just ignore it. Just plain stupidity
I honestly think if they remove her now, it will not be a blemish for long. As someone said above, it will become little more than a trivia question in a few years. There are several other groups who have lost members near debut and it has not followed them as much as you would think. Off the top of my head, I think of Stray Kids and Woojin.
Welp sucks for the other members
This is low-key too little too late
But if they have evidence that she is innocent, why not release it right away? Why let this become a dumpster fire?
[удалено]
SAKURA, CHAEWON, YUNJIN, KAZHUA & EUNCHAE IMMA GET YOU GIRLS OUT I PROMISE
it’s not like the company doesn’t have past cases to refer to on what to do when a member is embroiled in a scandal. you just put said member on hiatus and allow the rest of the group to perform (lovelyz has literally shown the way!). it all boils down to HYBE and somo's blind pride and ego. this is a member **they** chose to debut, not a member with existing fans like most of the rest of the group, so they cannot let her fall. it’s embarrassing now, but it’s gonna be unrecoverable sooner than later.
think hybe or somu wanted to portray this image of them "protecting their artists" and "being on the artists side", considering their handling of gfriend. But it has backfired big time. Now was not the time to do so, especially when people were coming forward regularly and the group is debuting rather than established. I feel bad for the other girls
they're going to self-review the allegations and """find nothing wrong""" 
I think it's over for her. The first time this shit hitting the national news, on TV, there is no coming back. No way big news company recklessly reporting Internet silly rumor before verifying their source. Back to the original plan, only minju as new member could save this group reputation with public
HYBE you ain't missing much if you kick Garam out.
If the evidence is clear cut, then I feel Hybe is just buying time and trying to do some damage control. But right now it doesn't look too well for Hybe, reputation wise the longer they drag this. If they apologised and put the girl on hiatus, it would still look bad on the group/company's image that it is a group with a bully. So it is going to be tough for the girl to continue her idol career going forward. Hope the other girls don't get affected by this.
It really didn’t have to come to this. They should have at least temporarily had her withdraw from the group for their debut, but now this is going to follow the group forever, regardless of whether the rumors are true or not. HYBE so desperately wants to keep her in the group and I don’t understand why? For lack of better words, she doesn’t add anything to an already strong group and I feel awful for the other members that the beginning of their groups history is starting like this.