Hello and welcome to 2024! Been a rough start to things so far, at least in Korea and Japan, with the year beginning with political stabbings and earthquakes. Yeesh.
Anyway, what better way to start the entertainment side of things off than by recapping all the shit I missed over the holiday season, which is apparently when everything happens.
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- Jaewon, leader & main vocalist of rookie boy group The Wind, left the group due to personal reasons
- PENTAGON’s Kino established his own agency, called NAKED
- TO1 members have all left WAKEONE
- DGNA’s Karam, Jay, Injun sign with New Ways Company, plan to re-debut in a group
- BTOB members Eunkwang, Minhyuk, Hyunsik, and Peniel sign with yet-to-be named agency
- BTOB’s Sungjae signed with IWill Media
- BLACKPINK’s Jennie has established her own agency called OA (Odd Atelier)
- TEEN TOP’s Ricky and Chunji leave TOP Media, remain in the group
- B.A.P’s Daehyun signed with MA Entertainment, also home to groupmate Moon Jong Up
The TO1 thing is a bit weird cause 18 months ago they shuffled the lineup and gave them two comebacks in a four-month span … then nothing. Good to see DGNA and Karam are going to be back after they lost out on Peak Time due to that dumb scandal. Jennie‘s news actually came out before YG Entertainment confirmed BLACKPINK would not continue individual activities under them, which made that announcement less surprising at least.
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I don’t want to say this is necessarily “good” health section, as both items here are serious ailments, but at least there’s only two this time? Depressing silver linings.
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- SNSD’s Taeyeon had a fan throw his album at her and demand her phone number
- Zhang Xing Te’s stalker fans threw water and cups at him after he told them to stop stalking
- aespa’s Winter has a fan run toward her but security makes a tackle
- ZB1’s Ricky gets called a ‘little cat’ and is requested to call fan ‘master/owner’
- ENHYPEN’s Jake faces a weirdly racist comment from fan about the ‘Asian way of thinking’
- Stray Kids’ Felix gets asked to act like a cat and things get weird
- SEVENTEEN’s Joshua requested by a fan to call her “mommy”
- NCT’s Johnny encounters a fan who’s insistent on knowing what he’d cover if he was naked
- KOZ Entertainment apologizes to a fan for assault incident involving BOYNEXTDOOR’s security
Guys … what the FUCK is going on with fans? How is there this much mess? Good grief. International fans in particular are getting way too familiar in like acting out their fetishes with these idols, all while they continue to act like only Koreans are the weirdo parasocial types.
Also, a bit of a rarity in that there’s a situation where I agree the security went overboard on the BOYNEXTDOOR thing with one of their fans. Do I necessarily shed tears over those airport stalker types? No, but the degree was clearly unnecessary to me.
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- Winners at the 2023 Asia Artist Awards
- Winners at the 2023 KBS Entertainment Awards
- Winners at the 2023 MBC Entertainment Awards
- Winners at the 2023 SBS Entertainment Awards
I like how every fucking broadcaster has their own awards. It’s insane to me. Feels like resume padding.
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- Jin Akanishi and Kuroki Meisa have announced an amicable divorce
- U-KISS’s Hoon & Hwang Ji Seon (ex-Girl’s Day’s Jisun) welcome a son, their first child
I have a vested interest in the Kuroki Meisa and Jin Akanishi news since she used to be the site’s avatar. Was hoping everything was going well, as they got a lot a hate for their relationship, but hopefully it’s at least as amicable as they portray.