A netizen recently uploaded an allegation against an anonymous first generation idol that became a CEO of being physically and mentally abusive.
The post is titled, “I was abused by a top first-generation idol, and I gave up on my dreams. I want an apology.” The netizen alleges he was a trainee for a company for which the first-generation idol was the CEO. The netizen posted a photo of himself with fellow trainees as proof.
The CEO was a famous former idol.
“He belongs to a group that was very popular in Korea and still has a lot of fans. The idol is a very popular member.”
The former trainee claims that the violence stemmed from him simply agreeing with a producer over the musical direction of the group.
On February 18, 2016, the idol/CEO called me into his office with the label’s producer. At the time, the idol explained the musical direction of the group. He explained we would be making music that was popular during the 70s-90s, saying that this type of music would make us popular. The idol then asked the producer and me what we thought. The producer said because it sounded ‘old,’ a younger demographic might not like it, to which I agreed.
The idol then started cursing at me and then slapped me four times on my left cheek and twice on my right. He then told me to take off my hat and then punched me on my head twice. Because I was afraid of violating my contract, I returned to practice the next day.
The netizen explained that they thought it would be settled with an apology back then, despite everything being way over the line in itself, but that the CEO only justified the assault.
The CEO called me into his office again. I thought it would be to apologize. The CEO, however, justified the assault and lectured me about why I needed to get hit, which shocked me even more. Ever since then, I would have tears whenever I saw him or thought of that day. Due to the shock, I decided to quit my dreams and wasn’t able to do anything for the past six years out of fear.
The netizen then reiterated that all they wanted was an apology, and said they came forward with hopes of preventing future victims.
Unfortunately, it seems that there may have been other victims of the CEO already, as since that post others have said they were also abused.
After just one day after the post was created, more individuals started stepping up and also claiming that they were also assaulted. These individuals claimed, “That looks like the company that I used to be part of. I also was assaulted and verbally abused,” and “That time was the worst memory that I don’t even want to think of anymore. I know how hard it is, I really hope that you can get over your trauma.”
Obviously there’s also a ton of speculation going on right now about the identity of the CEO, and really there’s only so many famous first-gen idols who started their own companies, but it’s hard to say too much for sure since everything is anonymous with this.
That said, would it surprise me one iota if everything in this story (and worse) turned out to be true? Absolutely not, it’s completely believable behavior from everybody involved.