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The controversy regarding ENHYPEN's choreography with female dancers continues to gain momentum as Chinese fans recently joined hands with Korean fans to protest about the same. This comes after the septet recently made its much-awaited comeback with its fourth mini-album DARK BLOOD and its title track Bite Me.
Some Korean fans were vehemently against the septet's use of a couple choreography in the chorus of Bite Me. They sent protest trucks demanding the removal of the dancers a few days ago. On May 30, photos of new protest trucks being sent to the agency's streets went viral on the internet. This new batch of trucks carried messages from Chinese ENGENEs (the group's fandom's name).
On the LED protest trucks, the Chinese fans added an additional message stating their demand for the performance director to be fired.
The message read:
“Replace the useless performance director, who fights with the consumers while only caring about his own ego and connections, immediately. From a union of ENHYPEN’s overseas and domestic fans.”
ENHYPEN's Bite Me practice video featuring female dancers heats up couple dance controversy
ENHYPEN released their fourth mini-album DARK BLOOD with the music video of their title track Bite Me on May 22, 2023. The video garnered 24.2 million views in just eight days of its release. While the comeback was a cause of celebration for ENGENEs who had waited 10 months for new music, it was marred by fans protesting against the choreography.
On May 30, pictures of Chinese fans joining in on the Korean fans' protest spread on Twitter, Weverse, and theqoo, a South Korean online forum. There was also a statement written in Chinese, Korean, and English that was shared online. This statement mentioned that ENHYPEN's youngest member, Ni-ki, is barely an adult (17) and should not be showcasing provocative moves with female dancers.
Many South Korean and Chinese fans agreed with the statement. The ripple effect was also seen on Twitter, where some ENGENEs continued demanding the removal of female dancers.
As per translations via Koreaboo, the protest trucks sent by Chinese fans had the following messages:
“The useless staff and executives of BELIFT LAB who only care about their connections should be questioned properly and [redacted].”
The trucks also read:
“The predictable results of ignoring and making a fool of the consumers are a drop a revenue. You can check it in the CJENM reports.”
The message on the truck in the image above reads:
“The label that’s the most out of touch in HYBE is CJENM’s subsidiary, BELIFT LAB”
Unfortunately, disgruntled fans criticized ENHYPEN and BELIFT LAB even more, after they saw that the agency released a dance practice video of Bite Me featuring the female dancers in the midst of the controversy.
South Korean and Chinese netizens' disappointment with the agency and the performance team was evident through the many tweets that spoke negatively against the background dancers.
It all began on May 24, when pictures of protest truck demonstrations organized by Korean fans hit the internet. The fans emphasized the slightly mature choreography and raised demands that they only wanted to see ENHYPEN on stage.
On the other hand, ENHYPEN's Bite Me choreography and music video were loved by a majority of international fans. The dance became a trending topic even before the release of the official music video as many individuals complimented the septet for bringing vintage second-generation K-pop vibes to recent times, which included being paired up with female dancers.
Neither BELIFT LAB nor ENHYPEN has released any official statement regarding the controversy yet.
