K-pop star Hong Seunghan has been removed from popular boyband RIIZE following immense fan backlash to photos of him kissing a woman last year.
The leaked images from August 2023 (which also showed Seunghan smoking) led to demands from more conservative South Korean fans for the music artist, 23, to be removed from the newly-formed boyband RIIZE.
He was placed on a 10-month hiatus. Until now.
Earlier this month, label SM Entertainment announced Seunghan would rejoin his bandmates – Shotaro, Eunseok, Sungchan, Wonbin, Sohee and Anton – with the hopes of giving ‘the artist and the fans greater joy’.
The decision sparked vitriolic retaliation from certain contingents of fans who began a concerted campaign calling for Seunghan’s removal which involved angry posts on social media, sending funeral wreaths outside SM Entertainment’s headquarters in Seoul.
Just 48 hours later, SM Wizard Productions completely backtracked on their decision and released a renewed statement confirming Seunghan would be leaving the band permanently.
‘We realized that our decision had actually hurt fans more and caused them greater confusion instead,’ the production company told the fanbase (known as BRIIZE) in a statement,
It continued: ‘At the same time, Seunghan expressed his intention to leave the group for the sake of his fellow members and the fans.
‘We respect his decision and hereby announce that Seunghan will be departing from RIIZE permanently, rather than rejoining.’
The label confirmed, however, it would ‘support Seunghan in the future so that he can showcase his talents and follow his dreams.’
Seunghan also shared his own handwritten letter to fans posted to RIIZE’s Weverse account.
He stated that after ‘pondering deeply’ about whether he was ‘causing too much harm to the members and the company’ he ‘only felt worried and apologetic’.
He apologised and thanked his supportive fans despite his ‘many shortcomings’.
The singer reflected: ‘I truly do not want the relationship between RIIZE and BRIIZE, who were growing together while supporting one another, to be damaged because of me.
‘It also breaks my heart to see the fans, for whom it should be more than enough to just love RIIZE, fighting with each other because of me.’
In a since-deleted post, fellow member Wonbin also addressed any fan confusion, saying: ‘I hope that you guys realize the members have thought about this together again and again, considering this deeply,’ per Billboard.
Wonbin added: ‘I know this post will not be able to erase all of your worries, but I hope that it can comfort you in your confusion, even just a little bit.’
The controversial exit has left many fans distraught at the news, and the hate Seunghan and the company had to endure. On South Korean social media, hashtags such as ‘Seunghan out’ and ‘RIIZE exists as six’ started trending.
NME also reported that SM Entertainment’s report hotline Kwangya 119 was inundated with requests for Seunghan’s removal leading to the website crashing numerous times.
‘To turn something that is meant as a sign of respect into a tactic for bullying someone is incredibly egregious,’ British fan Tarryn McMurray told NBC about the use of funeral wreaths in protest.
‘All 6 members wanted Seunghan to come back and they talked seriously together and I think they probably thought that if they told us this we would support their decision and respect what they wanted but they were all let down by their fans,’ @wonseoky wrote on X.
‘The number ONE thing that we should be DEMANDING is Seunghan’s return to RIIZE we need to start making our demands CLEAR,’ @phuwinssmile added.
Meanwhile, a change.org petition has been launched demanding he be reinstated into the group and has already garnered over 300,000 signatures.
The creator of the petition, Lauren Lim, wrote in a note: ‘He had a promising future, but because of horrible ‘fans’ of RIIZE, it all led up to this unfortunate fate. Many fans, mostly international fans, want him back in the group, and are still waiting on him.’
One fan, Tina Marndi, wrote: ‘As a human being, this is just so unfair, we all should be allowed to live our life and dreams and no one besides ourselves should be allowed to control our life. I hope Seunghan finds peace.’
Another fan, Amina Varfolomeeva, added that ‘[k-pop stars] are all humans who deserve normal life, normal contracts, normal working schedules etc’.
As of now, RIIZE remains a six-man group. The band released the debut single Get A Guitar in September last year which sold over a million copies in the first week.
Earlier this year they released RIIZING – The 1st Mini Album which compiled all their records and included the additional song Boom Boom Bass.
Discussing plans for the end of 2024, Sungchan told Grammy.com: ‘Our fans can expect to see us at end of the year award shows with bigger and better performances from last year.’
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