By Yuli Atta
(This is part 2 of an assessment I had to do for university. Part 1 you can find HERE.)
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On
the 31st of October, 2019, was announced that Wonho, whose real name
is Lee Ho-seok, was leaving the K-pop boy band Monsta X which he had been a
part of since their debut in 2015.
Starship
Enetrainment, which is the company Monsta X debuted under, released an official
statement on all of their social media in which they thanked the fans for their
support and apologised, saying that Wonho’s contract with them had been
terminated and Monsta X was going to continue as a six-member group.
Additionally, Wonho released a handwritten letter, which was translated by Soompi, in which he also apologised to
fans about the situation and asked them to support the remaining members of
Monsta X.
In
his letter Wonho wrote: “There was a time when I was immature and
have made big and small mistakes, but after becoming a trainee and making my
debut, I stayed on track and worked hard to avoid being ashamed of myself.”
Wonho
was forced to leave Monsta X after rumours of him being indebted to an old friend
and smoking marijuana illegally in 2013 were shared by the TV personality Jung
Da-eun. She asked Wonho through her social media about the money he owed her.
Jung Da-eun and Wonho starred together in the variety show Ulzzang Shidae. More rumours were revealed after the involvement of
former YG Entertainment trainee Han Seo-hee who is Jung Da-eun’s friend.
In
September of 2019 two separate internal drug investigations were carried out on
Wonho but the two police teams haven’t shared the results. The statute of
limitations for drug use in Korea is seven years. There’s one year left and
according to Dispatch, Wonho hasn’t been summoned for questioning yet.
In
Starship Entertainment’s official statement they wrote: “We will continue to
hold legal liability for malicious and distorted claims to the matter.”
Additionally,
Wonho’s departure from the group came as a surprise to many fans since it
happened a few days after their new song Follow
was released. Starship then said in a statement that Monsta X would keep on
with the promotion as six.
In
his letter Wonho wrote:
“Please
give strength to MONSTA X. The members have nothing
to do with me. I carefully ask that you at least give support and encouragement
to the members. They are people who are
too good to stop and get hurt like this because of someone like me.”
Aside
from that, there were rumours going around about Shownu who is the leader of
Monsta X. There were allegations of him having had an affair with a married
woman but he quickly cleared that up by stating that at the time of the affair
the woman in question had been single.
Fans
all over the world were heartbroken over the news about Wonho. Multiple
hashtags were trending worldwide for two weeks straight. Some of them were
#FightForWonho, #MonbebeWontBackDown, #StarshipWeWantAnswers, #HopeForWonho and
#WeSupportMONSTAX. What’s more, the monbebes, which is what the Monsta X fandom
is called, who were in Seoul at the time of the event, gathered in front of the
company’s building and left sticky notes on the windows with messages for
Wonho. Many of them were asking him not to leave Monsta X and were asking
Starship Entertainment to bring him back. The sticky notes were taken off by
the company soon after.
Additionally,
the fans worldwide were signing a petition which opposes his departure that
reached over 300, 000 signatures and is now a little below 500, 000. Monbebes
also raised money and paid for a Times Square ad in New York City expressing
their desire for the band to remain as seven.
Prior
to the controversies, Monsta X were on their tour in North America and they
also came out with songs in English like Someone’s
someone, Who do u love? in
collaboration with French Montana and Play
it cool in collaboration with Steve Aoki.
Sources:
Kelly,
Emma. (2019). Monbebe leave
Post-It notes of support for Wonho on walls of Starship Entertainment. Available at: https://metro.co.uk/2019/10/31/monbebe-leave-post-notes-support-wonho-walls-starship-entertainment-11018775/ [Accessed:
08. 12. 2019]
Korea
Times. (2019) Monsta X star Wonho leaves
K-pop boy band after claims he smoked pot and has bad debts. South China
Morning Post. Available at: https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3036193/monsta-x-star-wonho-leaves-k-pop-boy-band-after-claims-he [Accessed: 08. 12. 2019]
Soompi.
(2019). Starship Entertainment Terminates
Wonho’s Contract + Responds To Report About Alleged Marijuana Use In 2013.
Available at: https://www.soompi.com/article/1362952wpp/starship-entertainment-terminates-wonhos-contract-responds-to-report-about-alleged-marijuana-use-in-2013 [Accessed:
08. 12. 2019]
Soompi. (2019). Wonho writes letter to fans following
departure from Monsta X. Available at: https://www.soompi.com/article/1362750wpp/wonho-writes-letter-to-fans-following-departure-from-monsta-x [Accessed: 09. 12. 2019]
Starship
Entertainment. (2019) Starship
Entertainment [Twitter]. Written 31 October 2019. Available at: https://twitter.com/STARSHIPent/status/1189812608339038208?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1189812608339038208&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nme.com%2Fnews%2Fmusic%2Fwonho-departs-k-pop-monsta-x-apology-2563370
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