Yet Another BOSS RIIZE update – Total Uproar

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(Written October 16, 2024)

I can’t believe I have to keep taking my BOSS RIIZE binder off the shelf to put in an update.  Usually I take down finished binders every once in a while to review them and make edits.  But this RIIZE story isn’t ending.

RIIZE has always been marketed as an international band.  And the international fans are FURIOUS about what is happening to Seunghan.  American and European YouTubers I follow, who I didn’t even know were into K-pop, have been posting angry videos about the way Seunghan is being treated, and how toxic fans get to bully major labels into doing whatever they want them to do.  And RIIZE is caught in the middle of all this.

A quick breakdown of what I’ve learned over the past 24 hours:

When SM Entertainment announced that Seunghan would return to RIIZE, the rest of the group was performing at the KBS Music Bank Tour in Madrid.  From the fan postings I’ve been reading on Reddit, the Madrid crowd was excited at the news and chanting about how RIIZE was finally seven again.  Meanwhile, Seunghan was back in Seoul by himself, facing the huge fan backlash with no support system around him.  Cell phone footage is posted online of him walking to the SM Building, having to walk past all those funeral wreaths.  Later, fans got pictures of him leaving the SM Building in tears.  Alone. 

Two days after the announcement that Seunghan was returning, SM posted his letter saying that he was leaving permanently.  Everyone pretty much knows SM made him write that letter.  And the bullies celebrated, but the rest of the K-pop world was PISSED.

The K-netizen bullies may be celebrating, but the rest of the fans are boycotting.  They have cancelled all their orders of products by SM artists.  They have unsubscribed to SM social media accounts.  And starting yesterday, companies all over the world that sell K-pop music and merch have put a hold on selling anything by RIIZE to protest the way SM is treating their artists.  (SM has a loooong history of horrible band management decisions that I won’t get into right now.)

Caught in the middle of all this madness is RIIZE.  The six active members who were so excited about their friend returning to the group watched as their so-called fans bullied their friend until SM backed down.  SM did not take them off the tour.  Fans captured photos of them in airports on the tour with their faces covered in COVID masks and hats pulled down, but So Hee had clearly been crying in one of the pictures. 

They can’t be with their friend to comfort him.  Shops worldwide have stopped selling their merch, and even though it’s in support of Seunghan, it’s still costing them in sales.  And they have to continue on their tour, singing and dancing in front of audiences, many of whom participated in the bullying and are responsible for all this.  They are in the middle of an international uproar due to the mismanagement and cowardice of SM Entertainment.

Seunghan is one of many, many K-pop idols whose lives and careers have been destroyed by the toxic K-netizens who have been allowed to run rampant in the industry.  A few idols have ended their lives over such bullying.  I don’t know why Seunghan is the straw that broke the camel’s back, but it seems the world has had enough.  Maybe the reason Seunghan is the catalyst is because RIIZE has such a huge international fan base.  When you market your K-pop group to the entire world, the entire world pays attention when one of the group members gets mistreated. 

These horrible toxic fans have to be stopped.  K-pop idols need to be better protected.  And SM Entertainment needs to be burned to the ground.  Right now, the intensity is still building, and this story isn’t close to being over. 

Depending on what happens, I may be taking a break from these recaps once I’m finished with I-Land.  Knowing what I know about how idols are treated, it’s hard to get enthusiastic about survival reality shows that groom the next batch of kids to get thrown right into that hellscape of an industry. 

I’m going to leave my BOSS RIIZE binder here on my desk for a while.  There will be more to this story.  I’m just hoping that RIIZE, all seven of them, come out of this okay. 

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BOSS RIIZE update – Well, never mind. Everything is awful.

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(Written October 13, 2024)

The toxic fans have won.  Seunghan has left RIIZE again. 

After several days of death threats on Weverse, funeral wreaths being sent to SM, and awful rumors being spread about him on the internet, Seunghan has decided to leave RIIZE for his physical safety and mental health.  I don’t blame him, but I hate this. 

I hate how awful and self-righteous fans can be.  Not to mention violent and threatening.  According to the message Seunghan posted on Weverse, the funeral wreaths had his name on them.  Can you imagine trying to go to work and seeing that?  Especially  if you had done nothing wrong? 

Take a look at the picture on the right.  According to Korean news outlets, there were 1,000 of these wreaths in front of the SM building.  All with Seunghan’s name on them.

All he did was have a girlfriend before he became an idol.  He’s a human being.  Humans fall in love.  He is not genetically an idol.  “Idol” is just a job title.  He does not deserve this.

I hate that these bullies have succeeded in getting him fired again and are probably now celebrating.  Like I said, I don’t blame Seunghan for leaving – I probably would, too. 

I also can’t imagine what this is going to do to the rest of the group.  They were excited about their friend coming back.  Won Bin had posted a message on Weverse, expressing his happiness and welcoming his friend back.  That message has now been taken down.  

RIIZE will probably resent their fans so much after this.  I can’t imagine being onstage, smiling and waving to the fans who bullied your friend and sent him death threats.  I wouldn’t want to continue in K-pop.  I’d just want to go home and disappear.

It’s not just K-pop, and it’s not just South Korea.  The world feels like it’s become such a stupidly angry, ignorant, violent place.  This is so depressing.

I hope that Seunghan is able to recover from this and find happiness and fulfillment in his life. 

And I hope that I can find some hope.

 

Yet Another BOSS RIIZE update – Total Uproar

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BOSS RIIZE update – Welcome back, Seunghan!

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(Written October 11, 2024)

It’s official.  RIIZE is once again seven.  I woke up this morning to headlines, Reddit posts, happy BRIIZE reactions, and anti-fans losing their minds.

Seunghan has been out of the group for ten months.  He’s missed a lot, including BOSS RIIZE, which I now do plan to recap if there’s a second season.  It will be good to see him back with his friends in the group.  He didn’t deserve to get kicked out in the first place.  I’m happy to see that SM Entertainment pushed back against the toxic fans, known as OT6 (named for their belief that there should only be six members, not seven.  Those who have hoped for Seunghan’s return are called OT7.) 

Of course, OT6 is not happy, and we are once again treated to news about how borderline criminally insane K-pop anti-fans can be.  They are actually leaving funeral wreaths at the entrance of SM Entertainment.  That, to me, sounds like a death threat.  And funeral wreaths are expensive.  According to PannKpop.com, nearly one thousand of these wreaths were sent to SM. How much money do these OT6s make?  Do they have actual jobs?  If so, do their bosses know this is what their employees are doing with their free time?  Leaving sinister messages at entertainment companies over boy band decisions?  If I ran a company and saw one of my employees on the news doing this, there would be a meeting with HR the next day.

It’s also a bit frustrating that Seunghan had to wrote a long letter of apology to appease the OT6.  For having a girlfriend before becoming an idol.  Unfortunately, he’s not the only idol who’s had to write apology letters to the fans for normal things like dating.  He also had to apologize for the fact that he smoked cigarettes back in high school, which is a bad habit but also none of anyone else’s business. 

Whatever happens going forward, this is happy news, and I’m looking forward to seeing performances and videos with all seven members back together.  What a nice way to end these recaps. 

Welcome back, Seunghan.  Enjoy your career and all the craziness that goes with it.  And if there is a season two of BOSS RIIZE, watch out for Eun Seok.  

BOSS RIIZE update – Well, never mind.  Everything is awful.

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