Karina left out? Fans lash out at K-POP group aespa's official WEIBO

In support of aespa member Karina, fans of the group (known as MYs) have been trending "#RESPECTKARINA" and "#aespa_is_FOUR" after fans noticed their official WEIBO treating her differently.

aespa is SM Entertainment's latest girl group, having debuted in 2020 with their song "Black Mamba." The group's concept, involving having "AI idol" counterparts of the members, drew a lot of eyes for its uniqueness. Founder of SM, Lee Soo Man, said virtual idols are "independent beings as they have AI brains."

A year after aespa's debut, which have been positively received by K-POP, other issues, particularly SM's handling of them, are bubbling up and boiling over in the scene.

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Karina's supposed mistreatment anger fans; SM Entertainment catches the brunt of it

Karina, the leader of the group, is currently trending on Twitter due to an issue one of her fanbases noticed and brought up.

As the leader of @aespa_official, an artist subordinated to @SMTOWNGLOBAL, Karina is always conscientious and works hard, attentively completes every detail, she's worth being respect!#aespa_is_FOUR #RESPECTKARINA pic.twitter.com/tMMkbDEqTm

— KARINA Bar_카리나바 (@ChinaKarinaBar) July 3, 2021

Pictures of all the members of aespa are regularly uploaded to the aespa WEIBO account (a Chinese blogging platform). All but Karina's; fans claim.

Many allege that her content was either uploaded late or not at all. Seeking an explanation and possibly a correction, aespa fans are mass-tweeting to SM Entertainment's handles and are creating threads to help inform other aespa fans that might not know of the issue.

yoos are doing a mass email event to sm! please help!send to: [email protected]: Please treat your artist KARINA equallyeither you can scan or type the contents of this image or just attach it.#aespa_is_FOUR #RESPECTKARINA pic.twitter.com/zasOczQn5W

— ️️ ️️️️️️️jacey (@dolcerinas) July 3, 2021

KARINA Bar on behalf of her Chinese fandom is asking for an explanation from aespa's Weibo admin for ignoring her for months. Her content is usually uploaded late & for the most recent one, it was not uploaded at all though they posted other things.#aespa_is_FOUR#RESPECTKARINA

— ً (@YJMFEED) July 3, 2021

the official weibo can post about achievement but no single post for Karina on the same day?leaving the leader and face of the group out while she has the biggest china bar and her invidual fans have raised 370,000 yuan for aespa's upcoming album#aespa_is_FOUR #RESPECTKARINA pic.twitter.com/R61LhloDXQ

— Ky ✰♡ (@baemyooji) July 3, 2021

karina is the face of the grp but you don't post her pictures? face of the grp but her face isn't even on the official weibo acc... seems very wrong to me#aespa_is_FOUR #RESPECTKARINA pic.twitter.com/EouWPgkmuE

— kie 🌩️ (@yoojicity) July 3, 2021

Losing count of the times MYs have said aespa is FOUR to K-Media & their own company ! Karina is insanely popular in China & to blatantly leave out her posts out from Weibo is downright disrespectful. She is the leader & FOTG! SM, respect her.#aespa_is_FOUR #RESPECTKARINA

— ♡ ᵃᵉˢᵖᵃ (@yoojimx) July 3, 2021

Karina deserves respect and to have her photos uploaded to the official Aespa Weibo account and to stop having only her posts left out. #aespa_is_FOUR #RESPECTKARINA pic.twitter.com/Ye9MzpW0Zc

— aespa news (@AESPANEWS) July 3, 2021

karina is a member of aespa too. uploading her pictures shouldn’t be that hard. do your job right as a company, promote her and give her the same exposure as the other members. respect karina.#aespa_is_FOUR#RESPECTKARINA pic.twitter.com/bD1MokYZBf

— ً (@aespapic) July 3, 2021

karina has the biggest china bar and super-topic among aespa members in china. posts about her always have high engagements. it's extremely upsetting that the own people who handle aespa's official account forgot about posting her pictures.#aespa_is_FOUR #RESPECTKARINA

— ️️ ️️️️️️️jacey (@dolcerinas) July 3, 2021

so aespa official weibo acc isn't uploading karina's pictures that's why karina bar is asking us to email SM regarding this, some said this has been going on since march...#aespa_is_FOUR #RESPECTKARINA pic.twitter.com/Nwg35945CC

— nicole ❄️ (@mywinterland) July 3, 2021

So apparently,it is not the first time for the situation to happen 🥲#aespa_is_FOUR #RESPECTKARINA pic.twitter.com/D93eZxuvzy

— Dorothy (@Dorothy31982884) July 3, 2021

in case you guys forgot where you guys saved these pics here they are @SMTOWNGLOBAL #aespa_is_FOUR #RESPECTKARINA pic.twitter.com/ppJYFE78l9

— 나비♡ (@havefunkarina) July 3, 2021

I'll never get tired of reminding people that aespa is#aespa_is_FOUR #RESPECTKARINA@SMTOWNGLOBAL @aespa_official pic.twitter.com/lxhfKEN9IY

— ً (@thatshotg) July 3, 2021

defending and protecting karina with just words in the internet isn't enough i need a g/un #aespa_is_FOUR #RESPECTKARINA @SMTOWNGLOBAL pic.twitter.com/B4eaqigIDx

— 나비♡ (@havefunkarina) July 3, 2021

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SM Entertainment are quite infamous in the K-POP community for allegedly mistreating their idols, with several idols filing to terminate their contract with them, such as Kris Wu (EXO), Luhan (EXO), pop group JYJ, No Minwoo (TRAX) and Han Geng (Super Junior).

The label is yet to comment on the current issue. aespa fans continue to post tweets and hashtags in support of Karina, and are attempting to group people up to mass-email the company in order to let them know of their disappointment.