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On May 15, 2024, HYBE's newest girl group, ILLIT, came live on Weverse and surprised their fans. The members engaged in endearing exchanges with one another while chatting with viewers. However, during the live stream,16-year-old Wonhee allegedly reporting several hateful remarks on her phone went viral online.
As the group members were going through and reading out all of the supportive comments written by their fans, internet users observed that Wonhee sat in one corner. She allegedly continuously reported several comments on her phone. Netizens claimed that she was reading some of the derogatory remarks that viewers left in the comment section.
Netizens detested the young star having to allegedly report remarks amid all the hostility they had been subjected to when they all went live on Weverse. Fans also highlighted the ongoing HYBE and ADOR feud which has invited hatred towards the new girl group that debuted in March 2024.
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HYBE x ADOR ongoing dispute reportedly caused backlash against new girl group ILLIT
Prior to this, ILLIT was accused by ADOR CEO Min Hee-Jin of stealing NewJeans' choreography. For the unversed, HYBE (parent company) accused Min Hee-Jin of breach of contract and for trying to get her label ADOR independent of its parent company on April 21, 2024. The former lodged an FIR to the police against Min Hee-jin and submitted relevant evidence against her.
In the ongoing battle, Min Hee-jin charged HYBE and its other subsidiary label BELIFT Lab for plagiarising NewJeans' concept and choreographies to debut the rookie girl group ILLIT. Following this, Min Hee-Jin's remarks were also reiterated by the parents of the NewJeans members. Following this, two choreography directors from ADOR have also accused ILLIT of the same offenses.
BELIFT Lab's new five-member female group, which was established through the 2023 audition survival series R U Next?, made its debut in March. Despite their successful debut with SUPER REAL ME, the group is already mired in controversy.
Meanwhile, on May 15, 2024, ILLIT's livestream caused a discourse online. Some fans went on to say that staff members should have kept an eye on the comments rather than expecting a 16-year-old idol to report them to safeguard the organization. Given the recent turmoil with HYBE and the criticism directed at the Magnetic girl group, some felt that the remarks had gotten worse following ADOR Min Hee-jin's accusations against the rookie girl group.
Furthermore, ILLIT found itself in hot waters with another K-pop fandom for plagiarism. Although the group's conceptual identity has caused internal strife with HYBE's multi-label structure, the creation of ILLIT's fanbase moniker has sparked a fresh controversy with the Blackpink Lisa fandom.
The rookie female quintet revealed their fanbase name, "LILLY," during a live Weverse session on April 21, 2024. This further threw them under the crossfire of Lisa's fandom. Since Lisa's fans have been called Lillies/Lilies for a long time, her fans didn't welcome ILLIT's new fandom name. BELIFT Lab quickly withdrew its choice, saying that a new fan club term would be considered again and disclosed at a later time.
Meanwhile, several other netizens claimed and wondered if girl group member Wonhee's allegedly reporting hate comments on their Weverse live was staged by their company. Earlier in the webcast, some fans claimed on the Korean online forum Theqoo that Wonhee could be seen staring off-screen at employees while her group members were talking on the live stream.
Shortly after, a staff member handed her a phone, which she put in front of the camera. Online users saw that Wonhee was the sole member of the group looking at a phone while the other members were all reading positive comments from a tab and engaging with fans.
The South Korean female group ILLIT has five girl members in the group comprising Yunah, Minju, Moka, Wonhee, and Iroha. On March 25, 2024, they made their debut with the publication of their extended play (EP), SUPER REAL ME. The EP's title track Magnetic surpassed 100 million Spotify streams by April 20, 2024, as the fastest debut song by a fifth-generation K-pop group.
