Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
After it was revealed that all ‘Produce 101 seasons were manipulated and eight individuals were indicted for crimes related to that, prosecution has now revealed further details, including that every member of X1 and IZ*ONE was decided by production and so was at least one member of WANNA ONE, plus messing with rankings in IOI‘s season.
According to the written indictment, people including chief producer Kim Yong Bum and producing director Ahn Joon Young are under suspicion of already deciding the lineups of IZ*ONE and X1, regardless of viewer votes. Ahn Joon Young is also under suspicion of manipulating the number of votes of one member of Wanna One so that he would debut. It’s reportedly said in the written indictment that on July 17 of this year (two days before the “Produce X 101” finale), three people including Kim Yong Bum and Ahn Joon Young met in a CJ ENM meeting room to decide the 11 trainees they wanted to debut and determine their rankings. It’s described by the Hankook Ilbo report that this was done because they had seen that in the halfway results of the pre-finale online voting, there were trainees who had already debuted in other idol groups in the Top 11 ranking, and they wanted to exclude them. It’s also reported that the investigation revealed that the May online votes and on-site votes were manipulated so that one trainee who would have made it in the first round ceremony was actually eliminated, and another trainee was selected instead. In the third round that determined the Top 20, it’s said that they used the same method to swap two people. The members of IZ*ONE were also reportedly decided before viewers even voted. Kim Yong Bum and Ahn Joon Young decided on the 12 members and their rankings before the voting in the August 2018 live finale. As with “Produce X 101,” they saw that the pre-finale online votes included trainees they did not want in the Top 12, and so they determined the lineup while excluding those trainees. It’s reported that one member of Wanna One was also chosen because of the manipulation of the number of votes. It’s described that Ahn Joon Young switched the rankings of two trainees in the June 2017 live finale of “Produce 101 Season 2.” A trainee who was in the Top 11 did not make the debut lineup, and instead a trainee who was outside of the Top 11 became a member of Wanna One. In addition, Ahn Joon Young reportedly switched the rankings of two trainees in the May 2017 first round of “Produce 101 Season 2” that decided the Top 60, thereby eliminating a trainee who should have continued in the competition and boosting someone else. He also reportedly did the same in the February 2016 first round of “Produce 101,” eliminating two trainees who should have continued and increasing the rankings of two other contestants.
Yikes. So it wasn’t just a couple they wanted, but rather they just handpicked things and nobody had any say whatsoever.
Though arguably what’s even more interesting is what authorities do on the company side of things.
The collusion between the production team and executives at entertainment agencies was also revealed in the investigation. From January 2018 to July 2019, Ahn Joon Young received drinking entertainment services 47 times in total, amounting to 46.83 million won (approximately $39,340), paid for by five executives from four entertainment agencies. The services were paid for in exchange for arranging appearances on “Produce 48” and “Produce X 101” and editing favorably. Hankook Ilbo reports that CJ ENM made a profit of 124.65 million won (approximately $104,710) through text message votes from “Produce 48” and “Produce X 101.”
Do they have the nuts to seriously go after the companies? Not talking individual scapegoats, because there’s no way this kind of shit was just decided individually, but the company itself. I doubt it.
Also weird that AKS has been largely left out of it.
I kinda understand why Korean authorities wouldn’t want to try it as likely it’ll be more of a bother than anything else, but still.
