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On February 3, the fan who accused ZEROBASEONE’s Kim Jiwoong of using a swear word at the end of a recent video fansign released a lengthy post on X in her defense. The post arrived on the heels of WAKEONE Entertainment, the K-pop group’s company, releasing an official statement saying that the allegations were false.
In the letter, the fan, who is currently using the X account @81930287a, mentioned that people began “attacking” her online and called her a sasaeng (an obsessive stalker fan). She added that the attacks arose after the company said that it was taking actions against sasaengs and others who were spreading false rumors.
She is allegedly getting trolled by users who told her that it might have been her fault that led the artist to swear on the video call.
In her defense, she also said that she was a fan of Kim Jiwoong. She mentioned that she watched her recording of the fan call multiple times to make sure that she had not misheard it.
K-pop fans react to the defensive post of the girl who accused Kim Jiwoong of abusing
On February 2, ZEROBASEONE’s Kim Jiwoong went viral after an anonymous X user posted a clip from their video call fan sign, alleging that he said “f*ck” at the end of the call. At online fan signs, staff present usually block the screen with paper, mute the artist’s side, and then move onto the other member.
The artist allegedly swore just after his camera was blocked and just before his side was muted.
The viral video of Kim Jiwoong currently sits at a whopping 16.1 million views already on X alone. After the controversy snowballed into continuous engagement online, WAKEONE Entertainment released a statement denying the allegations.
They stated that the artist did not abuse and both Kim Jiwoong and the staff confirmed that it was misinterpreted. Prior to this, they published a statement informing people of taking legal actions against trespassers, stalkers, and people spreading rumors about the members.
After a short while, the original anonymous poster of the video, posted a note, defending herself. Her post read:
"Hello, I'm additionally writing because many attacked my character based on groundless speculations.
Following my post of the fan call, I don't understand why the agency decided to post an official statement regarding taking legal action against sasaengs who trespassed and people spreading false rumors...I am not a sasaeng who trespassed, nor a person who contacted a member spreading rumors...As soon as the statement got out, people suddenly started attacking me saying I'm those people so I deserved to get sworn out because I'm a sasaeng, which is absolutely not true..."
She concluded:
I am upset and sad that the company is alluding to an individual like me as a rumor-spreader and that everything is my fault. Please stop spreading rumors about me saying I'm a sasaeng, I talked about a gay drama, or I looked ugly. Thank you for reading a lengthy statement." (Translation via allkpop)
Fans were still unconvinced and continued using the hashtag #standwithjiwoong in many quote-retweets of the post.
One user mentioned that the entire situation was getting over “dramatic” while another user asked her to explain her decision of posting a negative thing about Kim Jiwoong who she claimed to like.
In other news, ZEROBASEONE recently released the first set of concept photos for their Japanese debut with the 1st single titled Yura Yura (Unmei no Hana). The album will be released on March 20, 2024.
