If you’re a K-Pop idol, well, the slightest things can trigger a full-blown scandal that will travel at the speed of light across all forms of Asian media. YG Entertainment’s artiste, Choi Dong-wook aka Se7en once found himself embroiled in such a case when a photo of him and his girlfriend, actress Park Han-byul was leaked into the interwebs. He was then forced to admit that they were dating.
All due to a sheer stroke of bad luck.
Eunhyuk
And now, the next K-pop idols (yes, IDOLS) to land themselves in hot soup are Super Junior’s 26-year-old Eunhyuk and 19-year-old Korean singer-actress, Lee Ji-eun aka IU. Oh dear!
It all started with that one time IU accidentally uploaded a so-called intimate photo of them via her Twitter account. The picture showed both idols, her in her pyjamas and him topless, sitting all “too close for comfort” on a sofa. IU, knowing that she had mistakenly uploaded the picture, took it down in about two minutes. Still, it managed to grab the attention of K-Pop fans and Korean netizens.
Enter, the explosion.
Netizens have since made harsh comments following the mis-tweet such as, “That picture she tweeted is a couple picture no matter how you look at it. I have many Asian friends and they are reserved. A girl just does not take a picture like that with her male friend, even if they’re best friends. Especially not in pyjamas while he’s leaning on her shoulder shirtless”. (Source)
Lee Ji-eun aka IU
Ouch! As if that’s not enough, K-Pop followers put the icing on the cake when they started calling her fake, since IU have always portrayed herself as sweet and innocent.
IU’s management, Loen Entertainment, released a statement the very same day following the Twitter blooper saying that the photo was taken in summer when IU was very ill and Eunhyuk had visited her at home. Of course, nobody explained why Eunhyuk was visiting her without his shirt on. And of course, the media has paid no attention to the statement.
Eunhyuk’s management, SM Entertainment, on the other hand, has declined to comment.
Oh well. What can we say? Eunhyuk and IU are human beings, after all. It’s not like they’ve committed a crime, right?
(Source)