Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
Following the recent passing of ASTRO member Moonbin, I’ve been trying to abide not only by his family’s wishes to keep things private but also by the common sense notion that these things aren’t anybody’s business (and that irresponsible coverage can directly lead to further deaths). However, there have been recent events connected to his passing involving VIVIZ, BPM Entertainment, and We Bridge Expo that deserve to be called out.
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Basically, SinB of VIVIZ is a well-known childhood friend of Moonbin, effectively being like siblings to each other. Member Umji is also known to be close to Moonbin, likely through SinB and due to being part of the same birth year line. Despite this, they were made to fly out to Las Vegas for the We Bridge Expo, not only missing his funeral but also looking like they were still grieving while at the airport (having to face the media is another reason this should’ve been shut down).
I tried not to assume too much based on that, as perhaps there was a miniscule chance that they made the choice to go and wanted to work through it after having paid respects privately or something. I dunno, it seemed fucked to me either way, but I didn’t want to assume.
However, recently it was revealed by their company that SinB and Umji would be missing the hi-touch event at We Bridge, leaving Eunha to deal with that alone, and also would be cancelling their interview and red carpet event for GRAMMY Museum due to their “poor condition”.
Well, that obviously confirms that things are very much not alright with the members and they are still grieving but are being made to fulfill their performance obligations either by their company or by the festival or both.
Like I’m not sure how you let this happen while thinking doing some kind of comparatively pointless gesture absolves one of fault.
It’s difficult to rationalize any justification for this from the festival or the company. The festival is at fault either for not waiving any cancellation fees and/or for being aware of the circumstances but still having them come over to perform anyway. And their company is at fault because they knew everything going on with their artists but still choose to put their relationship with the festival and/or some kind of monetary issue over the well-being of their artists after a tragedy that severely impacted them.
It’s an ugly look for both parties involved in letting this happen, and I just hope the VIVIZ members come out of all this alright.
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Update
Back in Korea, BPM have cancelled VIVIZ’s performance at a concert.
Due to the poor health conditions of the VIVIZ members, we have decided to cancel [VIVIZโs participation] in the SBS Cultwo Show Power Concert scheduled for April 29.
So they’ve cancelled everything they had scheduled except one performance at a concert they had stake in. Not sure why the benefit of the doubt is given to them, honestly.
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If you or someone you know is struggling with depression or has had self-harming thoughts, do not hesitate to contact a crisis center from your country or to call your countryโs suicide hotline.
