On September 26 KST, media outlet Sports Kyeonghyang published an exclusive interview with five former staff members who worked with the girl group April during their promotions.
The five staff members included 'A', a representative of DSP Media; 'B', a former manager for April; 'C', a hair designer; 'D', another hair designer; and 'E', another representative of DSP.
According to these five "witnesses", there was never any "direct bullying targeting a specific member" in the group, and member Lee Naeun "did not take the lead in the bullying", as the rumors claim.
Previously, Lee Naeun's past bullying controversy involving her former group mate, Lee Hyunjoo, regained attention after her appearance on popular YouTuber KwakTube's channel.
Many criticized Lee Naeun for attempting to treat the bullying controversy as an incident from the past to be forgotten, and KwakTube himself suffered from heavy criticism for allegedly "defending" a perpetrator of bullying, when he himself has confessed to being a victim of school bullying in the past.
The attention over the controversy has once again raised a red flag for Lee Naeun's return to entertainment activities. In light of the resurfacing of the issue, five former staff members who worked with both Lee Naeun and Lee Hyunjoo have stepped up as "witnesses" from the past case.
'B' told Sports Kyeonghyang, "The 'shoe', 'tumbler', and 'kimbap' incidents were such insignificant incidents, no one thought they needed to be addressed. None of the members participated in any kind of bullying."
'D' commented, "The others didn't want to start anything with Hyunjoo for a reason. Even though she was a rookie, she would skip schedules or arrive late. She was like a ticking bomb. But because everyone wanted to protect the group, they tried their best not to make her go off."
'E' also expressed, "I have no bad feelings toward any of the April members. They were all good to me. I just can't stand to see any of them being pegged as perpetrators. They were all young, and Hyunjoo was an unnie to most of them. They never talked badly to Hyunjoo."
In addition, 'C' claimed, "Lee Naeun took the lead in the bullying? That girl doesn't have it in her to do that."
'A' added on, "If you look at the recent 'KwakTube' controversy, it's nothing more than malicious attackers going after Lee Naeun in witch hunt fashion. One person is being attacked over some insignificant incidents from years back. There's no such thing as a group that doesn't have disagreements. But they are all still humans with dignity. And they were all young. I hope there is no more damage done."
However, many netizens responded to the testimonies by these "witnesses" with skepticism, noting the past court decisions in the defamation lawsuits filed by the April members against Lee Hyunjoo.
The court ruled that it was "difficult to conclude that the statements made by the accused, which the plaintiffs claim are false, are either true or false, and personal feelings and experiences are highly subjective areas." Furthermore, the court dismissed the validity of the statements made by DSP Media staff members defending the members of April for their "potential biases", but accepted the validity of the evidence submitted by Lee Hyunjoo's side, including diary entries and statements by DSP Media trainees.
In fact, some netizens are accusing the "witnesses" from the interview of intentional "media play" to "save Lee Naeun's image".
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