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Professional photographer and art director Cho Gi-seok was heavily criticized for leaving out Sakura’s photo and uploading the rest of the LE SSERAFIM members’ photos on his Instagram. The backlash prompted him to delete all the other images from his profile. The fact that he deleted the photos has led to an intense debate among international and Korean netizens.
The reaction to the photographer not posting Sakura’s picture had already divided LE SSERAFIMs’s fandom. Several fans bombarded “Where’s Sakura?” under Cho’s Instagram posts. This was already considered a severe response by some in their own fandom, but others were adamant on knowing the reason behind it.
FEARNOTs in general, the group’s fandom, got caught in the middle of this tussle. Korean netizens on the online forum, theqoo, commented that the fans, especially Sakura’s fans, were “always the ones acting up.”
LE SSERAFIM’s fans defend themselves from being attacked about asking “Where’s Sakura?” under a professional photographer’s post
LE SSERAFIM's upcoming comeback garnered a lot of attention the moment the group released their first set of concept teasers titled "BLOODY ROSE" for the album UNFORGIVEN on April 11, 2023. The artistic images left many fans dazed and awestruck as they gushed over it for hours.
Cho Gi-seok, a popular art director and photographer, uploaded the solo concept teasers of the ANTIFRAGILE singers on his Instagram account. The issue arose when fans noticed that he did not post Sakura’s picture.
Fans began speculating about the reasons behind the photographer’s decision to not include photos of the Japanese member. Simultaneously, some fans started bombarding “Where is Sakura?” and other similar comments under the photographer’s post. Cho then deleted the photos without making any statement about the issue.
The reactions varied, as some believed that it was up to the art director to post pictures that he liked, because he would focus on art, not on the idol. However, others believed that he intentionally left out one member and could have easily added her.
The issue didn’t die down but continued to be talked about in the FEARNOT fandom. Fans mentioned that they were not at fault for wanting to protect the five-member group.
LE SSERAFIM’s UNFORGIVEN continues to garner attention as it surpasses one million stock pre-orders
As one of the hottest rookie groups at the moment, LE SSERAFIM’s upcoming album, UNFORGIVEN, raised much anticipation from the very start. The release of the concept photos heightened fans' curiosity as well.
On April 11, 2023, YG PLUS, an album distributor, officially announced that the five-member group had surpassed 1.03 million stock pre-orders for UNFORGIVEN in the first week. This was more than double the increase from the group’s last release, mini-album ANTIFRAGILE. The mini-album only achieved 400,000 pre-orders in the first seven days.
Stock pre-orders are the amount of album stocks that are produced before the release of the album. This number is determined via several factors, including the market demand and the actual number of albums pre-ordered by fans.
LE SSERAFIM’s UNFORGIVEN will be released on May 1 at 6 pm KST.
