“Turned everyone into enemies" - Internet reacts as fan wars erupt over allegations of rigged voting and snubs at the 2024 MAMA Awards

The 2024 MAMA Awards, held from November 21 to 23, ended with a cloud of controversy as accusations of rigged voting and alleged favoritism sparked heated fan wars online.

This year’s event, hosted for the first time in the United States at Los Angeles' Dolby Theatre before moving to the Kyocera Dome in Osaka, Japan, was meant to celebrate the global impact of K-pop.

Across social media, hashtags like #MAMARigged trended as fans from multiple fandoms demanded full disclosure of voting and judging processes, claiming the lack of transparency undermined the event’s credibility.

While the 2024 MAMA Awards featured dazzling performances and celebrated K-pop’s worldwide influence, the controversies and accusations of unfair practices have overshadowed its achievements, leaving many fans disillusioned.

However, the aftermath of the 2024 MAMA Awards saw fans questioning the fairness of results, particularly the Fans’ Choice Award (Daesang). Fans flooded social media about this year’s controversial MAMA Awards, mentioning issues ranging from alleged rigged voting results to the staff reportedly confiscating all OT7-related items of RIIZE. An X user, @jeeminiworld wrote,

"MAMA done turned everyone into enemies."

"Girlll it get messy around this time of year," another user wrote.

"This award ceremony is a whole joke," an X user commented.

"not a single fandom was happy about this year's mama, except for the rigged ones," a netizen mentioned.

"disappointed but not surprised, mama is still rigged," an X user wrote.

Netizens called out the 2024 MAMA Awards for not being transparent in the voting process. Some also mentioned how most of the fandoms are unhappy this year.

"Awards show be going downhill," a netizen remarked.

"WORLD WAR 3 IS BREAKING LOOSE," another person remarked.

"it aint mama without fandoms having a huge brawl with each other," an X user wrote.

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Fans of BTS' Jimin, ENHYPEN, aespa, and more outraged over alleged voting manipulation and snubs at the 2024 MAMA Awards

Among all the controversies, the biggest one revolved around the grand award (Daesang) that went to BTS’s Jimin despite ENHYPEN consistently leading in public voting rounds. Fans of the latter demanded transparency from CJ ENM, the event’s organizers, after noticing that rankings for this award were hidden.

Many ENHYPEN fans called out discrepancies and raised concerns of manipulation, citing screenshots that showed the group dominating both voting rounds. They trended the hashtag "#ARMYS APOLOGISE TO ENHYPEN."

Meanwhile, Jimin’s supporters defended his win, highlighting his massive influence as a BTS member and the success of his solo albums FACE and MUSE, which have continued to perform well even during his military service. They condemn the allegations by ENHYPEN fans stating that Jimin's win was manipulated.

Similar outrage erupted over aespa’s Supernova winning “Song of the Year,” with fans of LE SSERAFIM and ILLIT accusing the awards of bias. They argued that tracks like Perfect Night and Magnetic were more deserving based on their global popularity and streaming success.

The situation escalated as ITZY fans questioned their exclusion from the top 10 in the female Fans’ Choice category, while BIBI’s win for Best Vocal Performance Solo over IU and Taeyeon also drew criticism, with many believing the latter two were the clear frontrunners based on fan votes and predictions.

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The 2024 MAMA Awards spanned three days and was live-streamed on YouTube, allowing fans worldwide to enjoy the event for free. It featured performances from groups such as TXT, BIGBANG, IVE, and others.