5 hours ago
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He is set to debut in an upcoming boy group.
Koreaboo
6 minutes ago
Content Warning
This article includes descriptions of bullying that may disturb some readers.
Recently, Starship Entertainment revealed the line-up for its upcoming boy group formed through the show Debut’s Plan.
| Starship EntertainmentThe new group, announced as idid, includes eight members selected through the survival show. Following the announcement, there has been some controversy over one of the newly announced members of the group and rumors accusing him of misogyny and more.
Trainee Junhwan only trained for five months before the show, and allegedly sparked some concern over his inclusion.
Park Junhwan | Starship EntertainmentAccording to content shared by former classmates of the upcoming idol, he was involved in the creation of deepfakes of fellow students and other misogynistic actions. The alleged classmate also shared a photo of Junhwan to prove they attended the same school.
At first, he wasn’t particularly talented, nor did he have a large fanbase. Seeing that he was selected as a director’s pick, it’s highly possible that his family background had an influence. Since middle school, he often talked about his parents’ connections and even said that he knew directors of small and mid-sized entertainment agencies. So I thought he would end up going in that direction, but it was suspicious when he joined Starship.
In middle school, he used to evaluate girls’ appearances like it was an everyday thing, and I remember he also talked behind the backs of students from other schools a lot. (I was a victim too.) The story about the soccer club — there wasn’t actually an official soccer team at our middle school; it was just a gathering of kids who liked soccer? Something like that. But in that group, they also photoshopped girls’ faces together and talked a lot about their looks, and he was with them in those situations too. They mostly did that in group chats. Honestly, if Park Junhwan had been planning to work in entertainment from the start, his friends would have known and caught on.
There were even rumors back in middle school that he slept around with girls, and from what I know, it was all about the girl he was dating at the time. Even during live broadcasts when he was doing modeling activities, they brought out middle school yearbooks and judged girls’ appearances, and the person broadcasting with him even told him, “You’re going to be a celebrity, so watch what you say,” but he didn’t care and kept talking anyway.
Up until then, he didn’t seem like someone who was dreaming of becoming an idol, so the fact that he suddenly debuted made people suspicious, and among former classmates, he’s been getting cursed at a lot and criticized heavily.
— OP
According to another anonymous commenter, Junhwan would also go live on Instagram and rate his female classmates, amongst other things. A screenshot from his Instagram account was also included as proof of following him and seeing the content.
I’m leaving this comment after seeing others say they didn’t date because they wanted to become idols.
He dated a lot, and he even slept with his girlfriend back in 8th grade (middle school year 2). What the… He wasn’t someone who had planned to become an idol from the start — he just acted cocky because he did some music here and there. Honestly, it makes you wonder how someone like that even became an idol, but when I heard he was a “director’s pick,” I thought, ‘Ah, that explains it.’
If he was planning to work in the entertainment industry, he should have lived quietly. But even in high school, he did live broadcasts where he pulled out the middle school graduation album and judged the looks of the girls one by one. Of course, the boys around him kept babying him, saying, “Our Junhwan! Our Junhwan!” His ego was huge back then, so he just got drunk on that attention and lived like that.
— OP
Starship Entertainment has not addressed these rumors as of writing.
English (US) · 