SM Entertainment has come to the rescue of its trainee Yoo Ji Min who was falsely accused of insulting not only Kpop groups BTS, NCT and Exo, but also her agency, SM Entertainment. Some days ago, series of messages were made public on social media claiming to have been written by Yoo. SM Entertainment released an official statement on October 15 to state that it has filed lawsuits against malicious comments targeting Yoo.
Action has been initiated against malicious comments that had claimed Yoo had mocked various artists including those under SM Entertainment by criticizing their appearances and talent. The agency stated that the rumors were falsely fabricated and termed it a severe form of defaming an upcoming new artist's character, in addition to inflicting severe damages on the individual's personality.
"Our agency plans on beginning legal action by filming civil and criminal lawsuits against all illegal acts which defame our trainee's character, in order to protect our artists' honor," stated SM Entertainment. It also said that a representative of Kim & Jang Legal Office will represent their case and that it has filed lawsuits against several accounts of malicious online activities with the Gangnam Police Department.
"The company has continuously monitored the artists and taken legal action to protect them, and we will continue to take strong legal action against misconduct aimed at our artists and trainees after this case," SM Entertainment issued a warning. It is expected that SM Entertainment will debut their rookie girl group in 2021 and Yoo Ji Min is likely to be a part of the group.
False Accusations
Yoo was earlier falsely accused of insulting boy groups NCT, EXO and calling BTS members ugly. The malicious comments had stated that Yoo had sent a personal message to a friend and said that NCT trainees are not even handsome. It was also rumored that Yoo had told that both EXO and NCT were not doing good. The messages also claimed that she had called BTS members Jimin and RM ugly. She was also falsely accused of speaking ill of her own agency SM Entertainment.
This truly affected the image of the trainee who was being slammed online by netizens. Though she did not react to the issue individually, her agency has probed the matter and declared that all allegations against Yoo Ji Min were false. It made it clear that the messages being circulated on social media in the name of Yoo, were fabricated.
Online slamming and malicious comments have been a serious problem Korean stars face. Nasty comments have affected Kpop and Kdrama stars badly and agencies have stepped up in many instances to protect their members.
