This week of March saw shocking revelations and announcements following the Kakao Talk chat group with members from entertainment industry being involved in sharing discreet videos of women without their consent. By the end of the week the third person to have put down his paper on entertainment industry is Junhyung of Highlight followed by Choi Jong Hoon of F.T.ISLAND on the same day.
The first person to come to light was Seungri, ex-member of Big Bang, who announced his retirement on Monday, 11th March after being charged with bribing investors with prostitutes and sharing indecent videos of women on a chat group without consent.
Jung Joon Young, singer of Drug Restaurant, was the second one to come to light in relation with the incident. The singer admitted to the charges of sharing over 10 videos of women he had sexual relations with. He posted an apology to the victims and declared his exit from all activities of showbiz that he was involved in on Wednesday, 13th March. He underwent questioning by police and was asked to submit his cell phone on Wednesday.
Junhyung has admitted to viewing the videos uploaded by Jung Joon Young and appeared as a witness during the questioning on Wednesday. His agency had first denied the claims but later put out a well phrased statement saying, “Some time at the end of 2015, Yong Junhyung met Jung Joon Young at a drinking gathering. The next day, while contacting each other 1:1 via Kakao Talk, he was informed that Jung Joon Young filmed illegal, hidden camera footage. Afterward, Junhyung admitted that he viewed this hidden camera footage, and he and Jung Joon Young went on to exchange inappropriate remarks about the footage.
We learned of the facts stated (above) through Yong Junhyung's witness questioning. After realizing the severity of this situation, Junhyung took part in his questioning diligently, and he is now in a deep state of reflection for his past inappropriate actions, as well as for the disappointment that he undoubtedly caused many due to his immorality.
He is also aware that this incident is not one that can be forgiven, and he feels greatly apologetic toward fans of Highlight for breaking their trust and repaying their love with disappointment. In order to take responsibility for his actions and prevent further damage to the group's image, Junhyung will leave Highlight as of March 14, 2019.
Even when Junhyung became involved in an unfavorable scandal, we were unable to obtain the clear facts right away and released a hasty statement, causing confusion; for this, we apologize. We will take caution so that such incidents do not occur again. We apologize one more time to fans who cherish Highlight.”
As for Choi Jong Hoon of F.T.ISLAND, he name was mentioned by SBS FunE as Mr. Choi of the chat group. He has been charged with spreading illicit image of a women and having a lewd conversation regarding the videos with Jung Joon. His agency, FNC Entertainment, released a statement on 14th March saying, “Choi Jong-Hoon, who has aroused criticism due to his involvement in recent scandals, has decided to depart from FT Island as of today. Choi Jong-Hoon will faithfully participate with police investigations within this week. He will permanently leave the team and retire from the entertainment industry.
We bow our heads in sincere apology for neglecting proper management and character education of our artists and for worrying many people through unpleasant events. We strongly feel the severity and responsibility towards the matter and will do our best to cooperate so that the facts will clearly be uncovered during police investigations.”
He is also facing accusation of bribing the police to cover up a DUI that happened in 2016. There were text conversations regarding the same between the members of the scandalous Kakao Talk chat group.
Jung Joon said, “Jong Hoon could have made it to the front page of news.”
Choi Jong Hoon replied, “Why would I make it to the news. I took care of it quietly.”
Seungri answered, “Don’t expect to get help next time you get involved in drunk driving incident. 000 hyung shut everyone up using his own money.”
We fans surely didn’t expect such a scandal to blow out taking down people whom we once admired. This only calls for caution to all the members of idol groups (male and female) and solo artists, whose actions are closely monitored by a great number of people who support their act, to not take advantage of the position that they are in to do any defame-able and derogatory actions that may lead to a uproar.
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