Earlier on September 16, concerns over potential accounts of sexual harassment and violence toward members of the girl group FANATICS became a heated topic online. When the issue garnered the attention of media outlets, FANATICS's label F-ENT issued an official apology for the matter.
However, netizens have now pointed out that F-ENT's statement of apology may not have resolved anything at all.
First, one netizen who attentively tuned into the problematic 'V Live' broadcast which aired back on September 7, stated that all seven members of FANATICS were present during the broadcast. But the other three members likely did not appear on camera as they were in their personal clothes and without makeup.
The 'V Live' was initially meant to draw a lucky fan who would be receiving a painting done by one of the FANATICS members:
The girls soon began the lucky draw process:
Here, member Doah's arm makes an appearance. (FANATICS's Doah is well-known as a former 'Produce 48' contestant.)
Another member in a yellow and green sweater makes an appearance with her arm:
And finally, the last member Yoonhye appears in a pink and white sweater: (There are some arguments that this member is not Yoonhye, but Sika)
Now this hand, one netizen argued, belongs to the staff member in charge of the camera. According to this netizen, the members referred to this person as, "President-nim."
While the members are announcing the lucky draw winners, the "staff" moves the camera back:
Member Yoonhye then appears again to give the two members to the left a blanket:
And the two members on the right a jacket:
That's when the male "staff" cuts in with, "Are you dumb? I'm trying to show their legs...". The comment is followed by a loud noise which many believe resembles slapping:
Next, while the other members go quiet, the "staff" comes and takes away the jacket:
What's more is that after this issue became a hot topic on various online communities, a strange netizen by the nickname "Koala" was seen allegedly defending the "CEO" for his actions.
Koala comments on this particular 'V Live',
"It's already become a big issue through media reports, so the CEO can't do anything rash anymore. This issue can be categorized as an instance of 'necessary evil', because if FANATICS want to survive they need their CEO. In this world there are necessary evils. The CEO must be defended if FANATICS want to go on living well and eating well. So there's nothing more to be done. What's there to apologize for?"
While other commenters reacted to Koala's remarks with, "Koala get your head right", "Are you saying the CEO has the right to sexually harass his members to feed them?", "Everyone else agrees that this is sexual harassment, not fan service", Koala can be seen adding on, "I don't understand why it's sexual harassment when they are just trying to show the fans their pretty outfits."
Finally, Koala stated, "An apology has been made to FANATICS. Everything has been resolved. So stop leaving malicious comments," then went on to "clear out" the comment section with the comment, "FANATICS let's succeed fighting~!" repeatedly.
Seeing the new opinions on the issue, other netizens commented, "I really hope he didn't slap her in the face TT I feel so sorry for her.... I can't get the members' shocked expressions out of my head TTTT If he does that on broadcast, I can't imagine how worse he might be on a daily basis", "This is unbelievable, please get the members out of there safely", "Heol is that Yoonhye the one who used to train at JYP???", "This makes me so upset", "OMG that slapping sound...", "That crazy b****** I'm so mad", "What a piece of trash", and more.
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