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PETALING JAYA, October 23 – K-pop girl group Red Velvet pulled out of an online fan meeting after member Irene was accused by a stylist of committing verbal and emotional abuse.
Korean news outlet Herald Pop reports that the band will not appear at the 2020 Korean Culture Festival, a day after 29-year-old Irene apologized on Instagram for hurting the stylist with her “goofy attitude.”
The controversy began when Kang Kook-hwa, who has worked on photos with various Korean stars, took to Instagram on October 20 to talk about an anonymous female celebrity whom she described as “disqualified from being human.”
Kang wrote that he endured “bouts of hysteria” and found himself in a helpless position when the celebrity “threw insults” on his face during a recent work event.
“I experienced hell for 20 minutes in an unfamiliar room. This person did not greet me at all, he sat down and started spitting insults in my face with his cell phone pointing at me.
“This person was so excited that you couldn’t tell if he was talking to everyone in the room or just me. But either way, the target today was me, ”Kang wrote, according to Allkpop translations.
She compared the celebrity to former Korean Air Vice President Heather Cho, who became famous in a “mad fury” incident after she stopped a plane from taking off because she was unhappy with the way a flight attendant he had served nuts first class.
Kang also claimed that she had heard many stories about the anonymous celebrity’s tendency to mistreat her staff members and that she possessed a recording of the person verbally abusing her.
In the now-deleted post, Kang included the hashtags #psycho and #monster which are Red Velvet song titles, leading fans to speculate if Irene was the idol referenced in his post.
Irene later admitted to being the figure at the center of the controversy through an apology posted yesterday on her Instagram.
“I regret and reflect on the fact that I have hurt many people who have worked with me up to this point, due to my immature behavior.
“Recent events have helped me to remember my past and I feel ashamed of my poor behavior, actions and words,” Irene wrote, based on the Koreanboo translations.
Red Velvet’s label SM Entertainment also released a statement saying that Irene had met with the stylist to apologize to her in person.
“Irene met with the stylist in person this afternoon and sincerely apologized for the pain she caused the stylist due to her careless attitude and emotional outbursts and actions.
“We are very sorry to worry many people with his immature image,” the company said.
