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On October 23, 2024, South Korean media outlet Allkpop reportedly held an exclusive X Spaces interview with the victim who faced alleged assault from Jessi's acquaintance. Over 26,000 fans tuned in to the livestream to get details on the ongoing controversy.
However, netizens lashed out at Allkpop for "terrible journalism" as one of the hosts of the livestream allegedly tried to blame the rapper. For the unversed, on September 29, 2024, in Gangnam, Seoul, the ZOOM rapper was approached by a male fan for a selfie when she politely declined his request.
However, another man reportedly came forward and hit the fan. The rapper claimed she didn't know the assailant and had met him for the first time that day. Korean netizens lashed out at the rapper for reportedly being a bystander and not protecting the fan from the alleged assault.
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Furthermore, during the livestream interview, an incident from 2013 was brought up by the hosts where a girl was allegedly hit by the rapper's female friends. On October 17, 2024, JTBC's Crime Chief segment aired an interview where a woman claimed that she was hit by the rapper's friends at a club's washroom while the ZOOM rapper held her down.
However, the female victim stated that there was no CCTV proof. Meanwhile, the rapper's fans reacted to Allkpop's exclusive X Spaces live interview. A fan stated that they were glad that Liz, another host from the interview, tried to defend the rapper and wrote on X:
"A 4-hour space to spread false info about an innocent person. I’m glad Liz came to defend Jessi, especially because Jessi has depression and is really struggling right now. Allkpop giving -host name- (redacted for security purposes) a platform to continue to lie about her is so disgusting. Terrible journalism"
The rapper's fans accused Allkpop of "defamation of character, slander, and libel." They stated that everyone should focus on the man who tried to hit the male fan while the rapper reportedly tried to stop them. Fans said there is no reason to bring up an 11-year-old incident as there is no evidence to those claims.
"After this space about Jessi, everybody needs to go report and block allkpop for defamation of character, slander and libel because this live is ridiculous. Johnny hasn’t checked Bunny not once about her behavior towards Jessi while agreeing with the fact that she’s a victim." an X user wrote.
"liz speaking the truth! allkpop platforming someone trynna get clout from something that happened 11 years ago JUST BC of an incident between two men like fr how is jessi getting the blame for all this sh*t," another user wrote.
"Lmao Allkpop thinking they'll get an exclusive with -name redacted- only for her to crash out the entire space and now everyone truly knows what happened and dragging both -name redacted- and Allkpop. And that's happens to horrible people. My Jessi you're loved and things are starting to look up," one other fan added.
Others wrote that the rapper did not assault anyone and shouldn't get blamed.
"Allkpop host is only taking bunny’s side despite hearing that entire story. Probably doesn’t like Jessi and that’s why he’s still siding with Bunny," one fan commented.
"This Jessi allkpop space…bunny can’t even answer the question about benefits of kicking Jessi out of Korea I cannot," another fan said.
"allkpop is going to hell. their space title is so misleading and defaming asf. jessi has not assaulted ANYONE!! this space is just some rando crashing out," another user mentioned.
Jessi releases another apology letter on Instagram
The Star reported on October 24 that the rapper was criticized after a CCTV footage went viral online that showed her trying to stop the man from attacking the male fan. The video reportedly caused a great deal of controversy as some netizens claimed that she did not take more action to protect her fan from the alleged assault.
Furthermore, she was criticized for allegedly staying around at a neighboring pub after the incident. On October 18, she was summoned to the Gangnam Police Station, where she was interrogated for six hours.
News18 reported on October 24, 2024, that the rapper took to social media and issued another apology to the victim.
"I want to sincerely apologize to the victim and their family affected by this incident. Even though I caused this situation, my inappropriate behavior, attitude, and failure to respond have harmed many, including the victim. I have made them feel betrayed and angry,” she said.
The Korean-American soloist continued by saying that she regretted that she couldn't turn back time and further stated that she would take "full responsibility."
On October 18, 2024, DOD Entertainment announced that they had terminated the contract with the ZOOM rapper amidst the ongoing case. The agency added that the decision was mutually taken by them along with the rapper.
