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Girl group IVE's agency Starship Entertainment has issued a formal apology after an employee reposted an NSFW deepfake of a member on their official Weibo account.
Fans were outraged Starship's official social media account reshared deepfake content of IVE members Jang Won Young and An Yujin.
One post especially, targeted An Yujin maliciously, calling the member derogatory names including an NSFW fan-created deepfake which sparked outrage.
Initially, the agency claimed that the deepfake was reshared "accidentally" by a social media manager in their attempts to report it.
Starship Entertainment released a formal apology to the girl group in a statement on January 15.
The label revealed that the staff member responsible has been subjected to "stringent" disciplinary actions and removed from all related duties and that the company will pursue legal action against actors who spread false and defamatory information in the future.
Read the full statement below:
We, at Starship Entertainment, would like to offer our sincerest apologies to our artist, An Yujin, and to her fans for the unfortunate incident that occurred on January 9.
We deeply regret the distress caused by the mishandling of a China-based social media account by a member of our staff. Upon thoroughly reviewing the situation, we have determined that the incident resulted from a failure in our internal protocols.
As a corrective measure, the staff member involved has been reassigned from all related responsibilities and the most stringent disciplinary actions have been taken. Additionally, we are actively enhancing and refining our internal processes to ensure that similar incidents do not recur.
We deeply regret the harm caused to An Yujin and we are committed to addressing the damages incurred as a result of this incident. To protect all parties involved, we are also taking legal action against individuals who spread false information or engage in defamatory behavior.
Once again, we sincerely apologize to all fans for the disappointment and concerns this incident has caused. Moving forward, we are dedicated to learning from this experience and growing as a more responsible and mature company. We will continue to work diligently to restore your trust and ensure that such an incident does not happen again.
Thank you,
Starship Entertainment
English (US) · 